The Jefferson County Health Department issued a statement today (Sept. 2) warning that the county is “on the cusp” of being moved into the red level on the agency’s four-color system used to alert residents about the level of threat COVID-19 poses to the community and the preventive steps needed to curb the spread of the virus.
The red level indicates widespread uncontrolled community transmission and calls for stricter guidelines to limit the spread of he virus, including a possible stay-at-home order.
“The seven-day rolling average hit 24.32 (per 100,000 people) today, just shy of the 25-case threshold to move the county into its highest alert status,” Health Department director Kelley Vollmar said. “New positive COVID-19 cases have increased 28 % from last week, with an estimated 13.4 % positivity rate among tests.”
The main indicator to be classified in the red level for the county, which has a population of about 225,000, is to have a seven-day rolling average of 25 cases or more per 100,000 people per day.
In addition, the Health Department also reported that the White House Pandemic Task Force moved Jefferson County into its red alert status on Aug. 30.
The White House Pandemic Task Force has a three-color alert status, which includes green, yellow and red, and red is the highest alert. A community is placed on the task force’s red alert status when it has more than 100 new cases per 100,000 people per week.
The Health Department’s alert system includes green, yellow, orange and red, and since Aug. 12, when the system was devised, Jefferson County has been at the orange level, which indicates substantial but controlled transmission of the virus in the county. It means the county is seeing 10 to 24 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people per day.
According to the Health Department’s statement, the county’s recent increase in cases is associated with “social gatherings, congregate settings and spread among members of the same household who are not isolating at home.”
In addition, “general transmission of the virus in the community is also increasing,” the Health Department reported.
Vollmar also said the local healthcare system is being taxed due to COVID-19.
Mercy Jefferson chief medical officer Dr. Karthik Iyer said in the statement that the hospital is seeing more positive test results and an increase in patients who require hospitalizations.
“As our healthcare team provides care to both COVID and non-COVID patients, it’s important to slow or stop the spread (of the virus) in our community by practicing safe social distancing and wearing masks, which has now been clearly shown to decrease the risk of transmission of the virus to others,” Iyer said.
According to the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force, which includes hospitals that treat Jefferson County patients, 315 confirmed COVID-19 patients and 93 patients suspected to have the virus were hospitalized in BJC, Mercy, SSM and St. Luke’s hospitals as of Sept. 1.
Vollmar said she was “disheartened” by the data showing the county moving toward the red level. She said cases are increasing so rapidly, contact tracers can’t keep up with reaching those who may have been exposed to the virus so they may quarantine and not spread the disease.
“We’ve been building toward this for about seven weeks, but it’s really ramped up in the last four (weeks),” she said. “We were hopeful last week that we had a slight decrease in our average rolling case numbers, but this past week we saw a significant increase that pushed us very close to our 25 mark.”
Vollmar urges people to take the responsibility seriously to stay home if sick, wash hands, wear a mask and social distance. She said the Health Department has the responsibility to contact trace and try to get in front of the spread of the virus.
“If everybody doesn’t work together we are going to hit the red mark,” she said.
Vollmar said at the orange level she recommends reducing the size of gatherings, ensuring social distancing in public spaces and wearing face masks.
“The power to reduce the spread of COVID-19 is in each of our hands and the time to act is now,” she said. “We need every resident of Jefferson County to do their part; wash your hands, wear your mask, keep your distance from others and avoid crowds to help protect public health.”
If we are moved into the red level, she would recommend “some form of stay-at-home order.” She said the order would encourage virtual work and would ask residents to restrict travel as much as possible.
“I don’t think it would look the same as the stay-at-home order did in March,” she said. “We learned a lot from then and we’ve built a lot of systems to enable us to continue to operate as a society even in a virtual atmosphere at this point in time.”
Vollmar said, as of today, the Health Department Board of Trustees had not scheduled a meeting to look at additional mitigations tools, like a mask mandate or stay-at-home order. Vollmar said she has asked the board about any plans it may have to hold a meeting but had not heard back.
The board voted 3-2 on Aug. 27 to issue a mandatory mask order, but less than 24 hours later on Aug. 28 repealed the order with a 5-0 vote.
Today’s Health Department’s statement also reported that schools are beginning to report cases. Some of the area schools that have reported cases among either students or staff include St. Pius X High School and the Windsor, Festus, Northwest and Rockwood school districts.
County COVID-19 stats
The Health Department reported another COVID-19-related death in the county – a woman in her 90s from a long-care facility. That brings the county’s total number of deaths from the disease to 47 since the pandemic began.
“We extend our heartfelt sympathies to her family and friends at this time,” Vollmar said.
The Health Department also has reported 34 new COVID-19 cases, including two at long-term care facilities.
Those cases are through midnight Tuesday night (Sept. 1), bringing the total number of cases in the county total to 2,891 since the first ones were reported in March.
Of the total cases, 725 are open, or active, ones, the Health Department reported.
Active cases are the number of positive cases excluding COVID-19 deaths and those patients who have been released from isolation.
The Health Department has reported 2,109 cases have been released from isolation, which means the patients recovered enough to be released from case management.
Another 10 cases are under investigation.
Of the total cases in the county, 2,637 are lab confirmed and 254 cases are probable, the Health Department reported today.
Long-term care facilities
Of the county’s total coronavirus cases, 480 have been at long-term care facilities, which includes residents and staff members who live inside Jefferson County.
The county has had at least 17 COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care facilities, the Health Department reported.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) defines an outbreak as one or more residents testing positive for the virus or one or more staff members who have worked within a facility in the 14 days before testing positive.
Of the county’s 46 COVID-19 deaths, 35 have been in long term-care facilities, the Health Department reported.
The Health Department also reported that of the total number of cases at long-term care facilities, 186 are active ones, and 259 have been released from isolation. Residents in long-term care facilities go through two quarantine periods before being released from isolation.
