With vaccine on horizon local counties still seeing large number of new cases

As a U.S. government advisory panel convened Thursday to decide whether to endorse mass use of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, local health departments are seeing a significant number of positive cases.

The meeting of outside advisers to the Food and Drug Administration represented the next-to-last hurdle before the expected start of the biggest vaccination campaign in U.S. history. Depending on how fast the FDA signs off on the panel’s recommendation, shots could begin within days.

Meanwhile, locally the Scott County Health Department reported 38 new cases Tuesday along with one death, a person in their 80s. Another 32 new cases were reported on Wednesday and 67 recoveries were reported in the same time frame.

Currently there are 785 active cases in Scott County with 2,302 recoveries. Tuesday’s reported death is the 46th related to the virus in the county.

The Mississippi County Health Department has reported 65 new cases since Dec. 4. There are currently 78 active cases in the general community, down seven since Friday while the Southeast Correctional Center in Charleston saw an increase in 19 active cases and currently has 200.

The New Madrid County Health Department reported 57 active cases on Tuesday while 1,539 out of quarantine and 28 deaths related to the virus.

An additional death was reported in Stoddard County on Wednesday, the 54th in the county related to COVID-19. There were 18 additional cases reported both Tuesday and Wednesday along with 60 recoveries, giving the county 137 active cases with 2,174 recovered.

An additional death was also reported in Cape Girardeau County, making 89 deaths since March. There were 19 new cases reported Wednesday along with 55 recoveries. To date, there are 1,436 active cases in Cape County and 4,872 have recovered.

In Pemiscot County there are 63 active cases with 16 hospitalizations. There have been 24 deaths and 1,256 released from isolation.

In Dunklin County there are 88 active cases with 18 deaths and 2,231 recoveries.

— The Associated Press contributed to this story.