State health director addresses timeline for COVID-19 backlog and growing positivity rate

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The state health director said the number of cases in the state are rising, but again pointed to the young population.

The comments came at Gov. Mike Parson's news briefing Monday afternoon as the state legislature returned to Jefferson City for a special session addressing violent crime.

The briefing was held at 3 p.m. You can watch the full conference in the player below.

Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Director Dr. Randall Williams also spoke at the briefing. He said the health department recently hired 100 workers to work down the state's backlog of COVID-19 cases.

As of Monday, the backlog totaled about 6,000 cases, Williams said. The health department director added the backlog would be at zero by Friday.

Dr. Williams said the seven day positivity rate from July 10 through July 16 is at 8.8 percent. During previous briefings, he said a positivity rate above 10 percent would concern him.

He said the positivity rate needs to be taken in context with other factors, such as the age of infection and hospitalization rate.

"When we look at that 10 percent, it's very much on our mind what that population is," Dr. Williams said. "If that was a 10 percent of 20 year olds, then we would have a much different look at that then if it were 70 year olds."

The data shows a large portion of the cases are in the 20 to 30-year-old population. According to the health department's COVID-19 dashboard, 9,298 of the total 43,050 cases on Monday are in that age range.

"Then we also have to take that number in hand with our hospitalizations, because one of the reasons we think we aren't seeing the hospitalizations and mortality, while the number has risen from 3.8 to 8.8, is because is because it's in a less vulnerable population," Dr. Williams explained.

"It's not like when we get to 10.1 percent that's an automatic trigger, because of the other factors I mentioned, we look at it holistically," Dr. Williams said.

The governor said he planned to meet with superintendents, administrators and teachers around the state this week as schools prepare to reopen next month. He is scheduled to visit with Mid-Missouri school districts Tuesday afternoon in Jefferson City.

Parson stopped in Columbia and met with city leaders and law enforcement last week.

This is a developing story, watch ABC 17 News at 5 p.m. for the latest information.