TUESDAY UPDATES: 14-day CPS rate continues to increase; Cole County Reports 65 New Cases of COVID-19

UPDATE 6:02 PM: The Columbia Board of Education’s 14-day rate tracker reached 85 cases per 10,000. That’s the highest since early September. The district is reporting 96 new cases on Tuesday.

The district reports that two new teachers tested positive and 10 were considered close contacts. The district currently has 15 teachers who have COVID-19 and 124 in quarantine.

Currently, the district reports that three other students have tested positive for COVID-19 and 29 were considered close contacts. The district reports that 38 students are positive with COVID-19 and 553 who are being quarantined due to possible exposure.

The Cole County Health Department is reporting 63 new cases in total and 3,990 total cases since the start of the pandemic.

The county reports 539 active cases; which is the same as Monday.

The county reports 62 new recoveries with a total of 3,253.

Moniteau County Reports 14th COVID-19 Death

UPDATE 5:27 pm: The Moniteau County Health Center reports the 14th death linked to COVID-19.

The health center reports that the resident was around 70 years old.

The county scorecard now reports 27 new cases, bringing the total today to 1,057. The scorecard reports that this is 25% new cases and hospitalizations have doubled.

The number of people who have recovered is 824.

The number of active cases is up 10 to 219. This is a gradual increase from October 26 when the active cases were reported 83.

The county has recorded 257 cases since the start of November; in October, the number of cases was 428.

Boone County Adds Dashboard Color Coding System for Hospital Capacity

UPDATE 4:48 PM: The Columbia / Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services COVID-19 dashboard has added a new feature showing capacity levels of local hospitals using a color coding system.

According to the scorecard, each hospital will assign Boone County one of three statuses.

green

• Operating within the limits of the authorized bed capacity; accept patient transfers from referring hospitals as part of standard care operating procedures.

Yellow

Operating within standard capacity and meeting one of the following criteria:

• Delay transfers of elective patients from referring hospitals due to a capacity of more than two (2) days, or
• Delay non-emergency patient transfers from referring hospitals due to staffing for more than two (2) consecutive days, or
• Delay non-emergency procedures and operations to provide additional hospital capacity

red

• Expansion of care for patients beyond standard capacity, diversion or delays from own emergency department due to staffing or capacity at any time for more than two (2) consecutive days.

Currently, the dashboard is reporting a yellow status. The dashboard indicates that the yellow status is if two hospitals are reporting yellow or one hospital is reporting red. The dashboard does not show which hospital is reporting which status.

Overall, Boone County is reporting 144 new cases of COVID-19.

The number of active cases rose from 958 to 1,014. 1,793 other people are in quarantine due to exposure to the coronavirus.

The county is currently at 131 cases for the five-day average, down 15 from Monday. The 5-day average peaked at its highest on Sunday at 168.

The department reports 142 hospitalizations. Currently, there are 46 COVID-19 patients in the intensive care unit.

According to figures displayed on the department’s COVID-19 dashboard, 29 of the 142 patients are from Boone County.

The service reports 23 patients on ventilators.

MU Health reports 61 active hospitalization cases and 37 outstanding hospitalization cases. At Boone Hospital, the hospital is reporting 40 inpatients with COVID-19.

Cooper County Reports Four COVID-19 Deaths

UPDATE 3:57 p.m .: Cooper County Health Center reports four deaths associated with COVID-19. That brings the total in the county to six deaths.

According to the health center, the county last reported updates on Nov. 4, there was an increase in the total number of cases from 131 to 957 in total.

Officials report that the number of active cases has dropped from 19 to 124 overall.

There were 146 reported recoveries, bringing the new total to 827.

According to the Missouri Hospital Association, Cooper County has a reported positive rate of 32.2% for the week of October 25 through October 31. The positive rate for the state of Missouri for the same period is 17.5%.

Staff issues led to the closure of the majority of the Missouri River Regional Library in Jefferson City

UPDATE 3:42 p.m .: A staff shortage closed the majority of the Missouri River Regional Library in Jefferson City.

The library will be closed Thursday through Sunday and staffing levels will be assessed to determine when it is safe to reopen.

The computer center will remain open during normal operating hours.

Officials say the library is still open for verification through curbside collection. You can use the library website to browse books. You can also return materials to drop boxes located outside.

Miller County Reports Six COVID-19 Deaths

UPDATE 3:15 pm: Miller County Health Center is reporting six new deaths related to COVID-19. That brings the total number of deaths in the county to 34, the second highest behind Pettis County.

The state recently changed the day it updates deaths associated with COVID-19 from Friday to Monday.

According to the Miller County COVID-19 Dashboard, there are 32 new cases of the coronavirus in the county.

There is a drop of five cases in active cases from 174 to 169.

The county reports 31 new recoveries bringing the total to 1,059 cases.

Boone County Hospitals to Start COVID-19 Surge Plans

UPDATE 14:15: Hospitals in Boone County will begin implementing surge plans as the growing number of COVID-19 patients continues to strain their capacity.

The Columbia / Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services said in a statement that each hospital will implement its own individual plan. The statement was a joint statement from leaders of the Department of Health, Boone Hospital Center, University of Missouri Health Care and Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital.

Hospitals in Boone County were treating 142 patients with COVID-19 as of Monday afternoon – a record for the pandemic. Of these patients, 49 are in intensive care and 21 are on ventilators.

Management at Boone Hospital said in a note to employees on Friday that they quickly filled up their COVID-19 unit in September and had to turn away dozens of patients.

“Every health care system has had to turn patients away, delay referrals from other hospitals or issue bedguard status in response to this increased capacity,” the hospitals said in a joint statement Tuesday. “Our staff continue to be strained as they respond to and provide care to patients with and without COVID.”

Hospitalizations also continue at record levels statewide. State leaders said they were concerned about staffing levels statewide as the number of new coronavirus cases continued to rise.

Emergency response plans for local hospitals could include changing staffing procedures, postponing some elective surgeries, and changing visitor policies.

The health department also said in the statement that it will change the way it reports on hospital resources to try to create a more accurate picture of how COVID-19 is affecting these institutions. Each hospital will provide a daily status report based on three levels – red, yellow, and green.

The health department will take these reports and create a statute for the combined hospitals. More information is available on the Department of Health website.

MIDI UPDATE: The Audrain County Health Department issued a mask advisory on Tuesday, encouraging residents and visitors to wear masks in order to slow the rapid spread of the coronavirus in the county.

“Residents of Audrain County are resilient and strong,” Craig Brace, ACHD department administrator and CEO, said in the statement. “They are ready to do whatever it takes when called upon to support their families and neighbors. We will get through this together by following public health protocols. “

The press release emphasizes that the notice is not a mandate.

The Department of Health also posted a notice on its Facebook page on Tuesday saying the new number of cases extends the time needed to conduct contact investigations.

The health department reported 115 active cases on Monday and 663 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. The number of active cases has increased by 30 since Friday.

The Missouri Corrections Department reported 93 cases of active inmates at Vandalia Women’s Prison. Twenty-five other prison staff have active cases. Eight county residents have died with COVID-19.

Columbia Burger King cited for violating mask ordinance

UPDATE 10:37 am: Columbia / Boone County health officials cited the Burger King restaurant at 3400 Clark Lane for recently violating the city’s mask ordinance.

A notice of violation posted on the Department of Health’s website says officials inspected the restaurant on November 2 after receiving a complaint.

The notice of violation indicates that several workers were seen wearing masks with their noses exposed and one of them was not wearing a face mask.

The restaurant is accused of violating the mask ordinance for the second time, health officials said. A previous inspection in August found that several employees were poorly masked.

Missouri adds 4,200 cases, positivity rate continues to rise

Missouri’s COVID-19 positivity rate continues to rise after the state added more than 4,200 coronavirus cases on Tuesday.

According to the state health department’s COVID-19 dashboard, the total number of coronavirus cases has risen to 216,697 with an increase of 4,256 since Monday.

The increase is the second highest amount added in a day since Saturday’s 4,559.

The state added 146 virus-related deaths in the past day. Health officials said Monday evening they reported 138 new deaths after analyzing recent death certificates. Missouri eight more deaths in addition to Monday night’s increase.

Missouri’s seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate rose to 39.4%, a new high during the pandemic. The rate increased an additional 1.7% in the last day.

According to the dashboard, the state reported 24,177 new cases in the past seven days and 123,357 were tested over the same length of time.

Statewide hospitalizations also set Tuesday records of up to 2055. He broke Monday’s record by 5.