The Jefferson County Health Department announced 16 new positive cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus in the county today (March 31), bringing the county total to 39 cases.
“The new cases include six females and five males,” the Health Department reported.
Brianne Zwiener, communications specialist with the Health Department, said gender information was not provided to the Health Department on the other five cases. She also said information on ages was not available.
“These (new) cases are still under investigation and information is still coming in,” the Health Department reported.
Kelley Vollmar, director of the Health Department, wrote in a Facebook post that the department would not release information about where the people who have tested positive live.
“The case counts are still low enough that releasing additional details about cases could potentially identify a particular case,” she said.
Vollmar said everyone around the county needs to take precautions to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
“Community spread is present in our community, and, unfortunately, we will continue to see this virus spread and case counts increase,” she said. “It is important residents follow guidelines and regulations in place from government agencies across the nation, as well as in Jefferson County.”
“Our Public Health Preparedness team has begun contact investigations and notifications regarding these cases,” the Health Department reported. “Those identified as coming into contact with the positive cases will be notified individually.”
Sacred Heart Catholic Church of Crystal City posted on its Facebook page today that a parishioner was diagnosed with the virus. The post said the parishioner was last at church on March 7 and the church has since been cleaned and disinfected.
The first three confirmed cases in Jefferson County were announced March 23 during the Jefferson County Council meeting, which was held over the phone.
As of today, Missouri had 1,327 positive cases and 14 deaths from the coronavirus, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the U.S. had 163,539 positive cases and a total of 2,860 deaths as of Monday.
According to the World Health Organization and CDC numbers, the U.S. now leads the world in positive cases.
Anyone who shows coronavirus symptoms or who has questions should call the Missouri State Hotline at 877-435-8411 or the Mercy Clinical Support Line at 314-251-0500. For more information about COVID-19, go to jeffcohealth.org/coronavirus-covid19.
