Missouri now averaging over 4,000 new virus cases per day

Across the country, states are recording high number of positive COVID-19 cases and Missouri is no different.

As of Tuesday morning, Missouri had recorded 28,367 cases in the past week, an average of 4,052 per day with 2,454 of those hospitalized. Of those hospitalized, 570 are in the ICU while 285 are on ventilators. The remaining ventilator capacity in the state is at 67%.

While the number of cases have been spiking, the death rate has been less than 0.9 deaths per 100,000 residents. There was 56 deaths in the last week in Missouri, an average of eight per day.

“Like the rest of the United States, Missouri is experiencing an increase in new cases of COVID-19,” said Dr. Randall Williams, director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS). “We believe we will be able to start vaccinating our healthcare workers and long-term care facility staff as early as next month, and thus help protect them as they take care of our most vulnerable citizens. In the meantime, you can help them, help yourself and help your loved ones by continuing to physically distance, wear masks, use hand sanitizer and avoid congregating indoors when possible, even during the holidays. We monitor hospitalizations and available ICU beds daily but are mindful that all of us need to do everything we can to decrease their utilization given what we are seeing nationally. One way all of us can do our part is to get a flu shot. If you have not already, please do so.”

Locally, health departments are still trying to cope with the increasing number of cases.

In Scott County 79, new cases have been reported since Friday with 78 recoveries.

The Scott County Health Department reported 11 new positives on Saturday, 22 new positives on Sunday and 46 new positives on Monday. To date there are 622 active cases in the county.

Since March there has been 2,207 positive cases in Scott County with 1,552 recovered and 33 deaths.

The Mississippi County Health Department reported 172 new positive cases in the last week and the number of active cases increased from 148 to 260 while the deaths remained at eight since March.

There are 116 active cases in the community while the Southeast Correctional Center in Charleston currently has 144 active cases.

There has been 670 total cases in the Mississippi County community since March while the SECC has had 191.

The New Madrid County Health Department reported 42 new cases on Saturday and 39 new cases on Monday. To date, there are 158 active cases in the county with 1,051 out of quarantine and 22 deaths reported since March.

Approximately 280 residents of Stoddard County took part in a COVID-19 testing clinic on Friday at the Lighthouse Church in Dexter.

After the testing, 75 new positive cases were reported Monday while 26 additional cases were reported over the weekend.

The Stoddard County Public Health Center reports 377 active cases with 31 deaths since March. Over 1,275 have recovered and are out of quarantine.

The Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center saw a drop in active cases on Monday, but the number of active cases still is over a 1,000 at 1,017. There are currently 80 hospitalized.

There has been 3,461 recoveries and 60 deaths reported since data collection began in March in Cape Girardeau County.

The Dunklin County Health Department reported 129 active cases Monday afternoon with 1,665 recoveries since March. There has been 12 deaths.

The Pemiscot County Health Center reported 117 active cases Monday afternoon with 10 of those hospitalized. There has been 19 deaths and 964 have been released from isolation.