The Jefferson County Health Department announced three new positive cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus in the county today (March 27), bringing the county total to 16 cases.
Today’s new cases include a male in his 20s, a female in her 50s and a female in her 60s, the Health Department reported.
The male’s case and one of the female’s cases are contact based, which means they got coronavirus through contact with another person.
The other female’s case is under investigation, the report said.
Brianne Zwiener, communications specialist with the Health Department, said the agency will not report where the patients with the positive tests live.
“Our Public Health Preparedness team has begun contact investigations and notifications regarding these cases. Those identified as coming into contact with the positive cases will be notified individually,” the Health Department reported.
As of Thursday (March 26), a total of 23 county residents have tested negative for the virus, and 22 test results are pending, according to a social media post by the Health Department.
The first three confirmed cases in the county were announced Monday night (March 23) during the Jefferson County Council meeting, which was held over the phone.
Those positive results were for a man in his 60s, a woman in her 60s and a woman in her 70s.
According to a Health Department report, one of those three cases is contact-based and the other two are under investigation.
The fourth positive case in the county was announced Tuesday night (March 24). That case is a female between 10 to 20 years old, and it is travel-related. That person has been in isolation with her family since returning from travel, according to the Health Department.
Three cases announced on Wednesday (March 25) include a male in his 50s, a female in her 20s and a female in her 30s, according to a written statement from the Health Department.
The male in his 50s and the female in her 20s are travel-related cases, and the other is under investigation, the report said.
Six cases announced Thursday include four male residents, one in his 20s, one in his 30s, one in his 40s and one in his 50s. The other two cases are females, one in her 30s and the other in her 50s. According to a written statement from the Health Department, all the cases are under investigation.
Kelley Vollmar, director of the Health Department, said during a meeting on Thursday she believes there is community spread in the area, and test results will soon be reflecting those cases. She said with the new Mercy testing location in Hillsboro, she believes the positive test numbers will increase.
“Don’t be surprised to see larger numbers,” Vollmar said.
As of today, Missouri had 670 positive cases and nine deaths from the coronavirus, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. From March 26, the number increased by more than 160 cases.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the U.S. had 85,356 positive cases and a total of 1,246 deaths as of today.
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.
