The Jefferson County Health Department reported 106 new COVID-19 cases since Friday evening (August 7), including 19 at county long-term care facilities.
Of the 106 new cases, 40 were additional ones from Friday after the Health Department issued its report that evening, 30 cases were from Saturday (August 8) and 36 cases were reported today (August 9).
Today’s cases bring the total number in the county to 1,822 since the pandemic began.
Of those cases, 549 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 county has had 28 COVID-19-related deaths, and 1,240 cases have been released from isolation, which means the patients recovered enough to be released from case management, according to the Health Department.
Five other cases are under investigation.
As of July 31, there were 87 county residents who had been hospitalized due to the coronavirus, the Health Department reported.
Health Department Director Kelley Vollmar said the department hasn’t reported new data on hospitalizations for the last several days because it is working to gather more detailed information from area hospitals, including current hospitalizations.
The county had 296 people test positive for the coronavirus and 2,192 test negative during the week that began July 26 (the most current data in that category), which translates into an 11.9 percent positivity rate, a slight increase over the week before, the Health Department reported.
Health officials urge residents to practice social distancing, wear masks, avoid large gatherings and take other preventive steps to limit the spread of the virus.
The Health Department also encourages residents to pay attention to the agency’s system that warns about the level of threat to the community from COVID-19 at any given time. The system uses a green, yellow or red guidance status to indicate the level of threat.
Currently the county is at the yellow guidance status, which means people should continue taking preventive steps to curb the spread of the virus.
The system also has a green level, which is less restrictive, and a red level, which would have more restrictions in place.
For more information about the system, go to jeffcohealth.org.
County coronavirus stats
Of the county’s total cases, 1,677 are lab-confirmed cases and 145 are probable cases, according to the Health Department.
The Health Department also reported today that 30 of the county’s cases were transmitted through travel, 798 were from contact and 994 are unknown.
According to the Health Department, 678 of the county’s coronavirus cases have been men, 891 cases have been women and 253 are unknown.
The confirmed COVID-19 cases in the county include 49 people younger than nine, 123 people 10 to 19 years old, 332 people 20-29 years old, 256 people 30-39 years old, 266 people 40-49 years old, 262 people 50-59 years old, 197 people 60-69 years old, 113 people 70-79 years old, 115 people in their 80s or older and 109 unknown.
The Health Department also reported that cases in the county have been reported for the following ZIP codes: 345 cases and 183 recovered cases in 63010 (Arnold), 75 cases and 49 recovered cases in 63012 (Barnhart), 49 cases and 35 recovered cases in 63016 (Cedar Hill), 26 cases and 19 recovered cases in 63019 (Crystal City), 83 cases and 56 recovered cases in 63020 (De Soto), 17 cases and 13 recovered case in 63023 (Dittmer), 25 cases and 16 recovered cases in 63025 (Eureka), 181 cases and 130 recovered cases in 63026 (Fenton), 220 cases and 178 recovered cases in 63028 (Festus), one case and one recovered case in 63047 (Hematite), 17 cases and 13 recovered in 63048 (Herculaneum), 127 cases and 76 recovered cases in 63049 (High Ridge), 85 cases and 54 recovered cases in 63050 (Hillsboro), 99 cases and 67 recovered cases in 63051 (House Springs), 229 cases and 165 recovered cases in 63052 (Imperial), one case and zero recovered in 63057 (Liguori), one case and one recovered cases in 63065 (Mapaville), seven cases and four recovered case in 63069 (Pacific) and 42 cases and 28 recovered cases in 63070 (Pevely). Another 192 cases do not have ZIP code information.
In addition, the Health Department reported today that it has monitored a total of 2,114 cases, and of those, 837 are still actively being monitored and another 1,277 have been released from monitoring.
Zwiener said a person who is being actively monitored has been in contact with a positive case, but is not showing symptoms.
She said people who are actively monitored are quarantined to their homes and must take their temperature twice a day for 14 days.
Long-term care facilities
Of the county’s total cases of the coronavirus, 354 have been at long-term care facilities, which includes residents and staff members who live inside Jefferson County.
Jefferson County has had at least 12 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 28 COVID-19 deaths, 21 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, 138 are active ones, and 195 have been released from isolation. Residents in long-term care facilities go through two quarantine periods before being released from isolation.
Also, according to the Health Department, 26 people from long-term care facilities had been hospitalized, as of July 31.
State, U.S. stats
Missouri had 57,379 positive cases of the coronavirus, including 996 new ones, and 1,301 deaths related to the disease, including 21 new ones, according to the DHSS as of Friday.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported the U.S. had 4,974,959 cases, which includes 54,590 new cases, and a total of 161,284 coronavirus-related deaths, including 1,064 new deaths, as of today.
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, visit jeffcohealth.org/coronavirus-covid19.
