COVID hotspot advisory issued for area

Jane Karnes of NextGen Diagnostics Services from Joplin, Missouri, administers a COVID-19 test Wednesday at the YMCA in Sikeston. NextGen was commissioned by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to do the testing due to the area being named a hotspot for COVID-19. (David Jenkins/Standard Democrat)

Many areas of Missouri have been seeing a surge of COVID-19 cases the last month and Scott County along with Mississippi County and Cape Girardeau County have been deemed hot spots.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services issued the hotspot advisory on Tuesday for all three counties, along with Perry County. Cases have been elevated in Cape Girardeau (431), Mississippi (89), Perry (116) and Scott (330) counties within the past two weeks.

A COVID-19 testing site was established at the YMCA in Sikeston Wednesday. Nada Nunnelee, owner of NextGen Diagnostics Services from Joplin, Missouri, which was conducting the testing, said they were commissioned from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to do the testing because the area was deemed a hotspot.

At noon, several cars lined up on the north side of the YMCA to be tested and the traffic had been steady most of the morning with people taking advantage of the free testing.

According to the DHSS, hospitals in the area are seeing a resources strained from dramatically increased numbers of COVID-19 patients and hospitalizations. As a result, many hospitals in the region are at or near capacity.

According to Saint Francis Hospital, there are 44 patients hospitalized due to COVID. Of the 44, 42 are unvaccinated and two are partially vaccinated.

There are 35 in the COVID Care Unit with 24 on floor status and 11 on ICU status. There are 18 on ventilators and all 18 are unvaccinated.

According to Southeast Health there are 32 COVID-19 hospitalizations with 28 unvaccinated. There are nine COVID-19 patients currently on ventilators.

The DHSS said continued disease spread along Interstate 55 is expected.

One of the reasons is the low number of fully vaccinated residents in Cape Girardeau (36.7%), Mississippi (32.6%), Perry (30.9%) and Scott (34.2%) counties.

Experts say at least 70-80% of people, depending on the type of variant virus, need immunity to provide the best chance of minimizing spread within a community.

COVID-19 vaccines are widely available. Those interested in getting the vaccine can visit MOStopsCovid.com or VaccineFinder.org.