The Jefferson County Health Department reported 48 new COVID-19 cases in the county today (Aug. 26), including seven cases at long-term care facilities.
With the latest cases, the county has had a total of 2,566 since the first ones were reported in March.
Of the total cases, 646 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 40 COVID-19-related deaths, and 1,869 cases have been released from isolation, which means the patients recovered enough to be released from case management, according to the Health Department.
Another 11 other cases are under investigation.
Health Department Director Kelley Vollmar urges residents to take steps to limit the spread of the virus, like avoiding crowds, social distancing, wearing masks and washing hands frequently.
“We need the community to help us get back to our normal,” Vollmar said. “Protecting public health is a group effort. We appreciate the efforts our communities are taking to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.”
The Health Department also advises residents to keep track of the four-color system the agency uses to warn residents about the level of threat to the community from COVID-19 and the preventive steps needed to curb the spread of the virus.
Vollmar said the county is still 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.
“Orange is a concern for us because it means our systems (at the Health Department) are being overloaded,” Vollmar said.
The Health Department posted on Facebook today that with the increase in cases, it can take several days before someone from the agency is able to contact a person who has tested positive.
“We are asking those who are positive to begin isolation immediately and start making a list of contacts,” Vollmar said. “We need the public to help us protect public health.”
Vollmar said the Health Department is working to hire more contact tracers.
While the Health Department is having difficulty keeping up right now, healthcare systems are not overloaded, Vollmar said.
As of Aug. 22 (the most recent data available), a total of 141 Jefferson County residents had been treated for COVID-19 at a hospital in either the Mercy or BJC hospital systems, according to the Health Department.
The Health Department, however, does not have data from the hospitals in the SSM Health system.
Orange is the third-highest stage, behind the red stage, which means there is substantial, uncontrolled transmission in the community and calls for the most restrictions to limit the spread of the disease, such as a stay-at-home order.
The county, which has a population of about 225,000, would move into the red stage if it were seeing 25 or more new cases per 100,000 people per day, according to the new system.
The color system also has a yellow stage, which indicates minimal to moderate transmission of the virus and a green stage that means no to minimal transmission.
For more information about the system, go to jeffcohealth.org.
County COVID-19 stats
Of the total cases in the county, 2,331 are lab confirmed and 235 cases are probable, the Health Department reported today.
For the week that ended Aug. 22 (the most recent data available), a total of 2,227 county residents had been tested for COVID-19, and 258 were positive and 1,969 were negative. That translates to a 11.6 percent positivity rate, which is higher than the week before, when 3,309 people were tested and there was an 8.61 percent positivity rate.
The Health Department reported today that 34 of the county’s total cases were contracted through travel, 1,059 were transmitted through contact with someone with the virus, and it’s unknown how 1,473 of the cases were contracted.
According to the Health Department, 1,114 of the county’s coronavirus cases have been men, 1,361 cases have been women and 91 are unknown.
The confirmed COVID-19 cases in the county include 81 people younger than nine, 202 people 10 to 19 years old, 486 people 20-29 years old, 376 people 30-39 years old, 409 people 40-49 years old, 386 people 50-59 years old, 277 people 60-69 years old, 173 people 70-79 years old, 170 people in their 80s or older and six unknown.
The Health Department also reported that cases in the county have been reported for the following ZIP codes: 477 cases and 238 recovered cases in 63010 (Arnold), 130 cases and 81 recovered cases in 63012 (Barnhart), 69 cases and 42 recovered cases in 63016 (Cedar Hill), 65 cases and 33 recovered cases in 63019 (Crystal City), 147 cases and 85 recovered cases in 63020 (De Soto), 25 cases and 14 recovered case in 63023 (Dittmer), 31 cases and 20 recovered cases in 63025 (Eureka), 241 cases and 177 recovered cases in 63026 (Fenton), 357 cases and 245 recovered cases in 63028 (Festus), one case and zero recovered in 63030 (Fletcher), one case and one recovered case in 63047 (Hematite), 34 cases and 21 recovered in 63048 (Herculaneum), 174 cases and 116 recovered cases in 63049 (High Ridge), 194 cases and 105 recovered cases in 63050 (Hillsboro), 140 cases and 89 recovered cases in 63051 (House Springs), 364 cases and 240 recovered cases in 63052 (Imperial), three cases and two recovered in 63057 (Liguori), one case and one recovered cases in 63065 (Mapaville), 11 cases and six recovered case in 63069 (Pacific) and 67 cases and 41 recovered cases in 63070 (Pevely). Another 34 cases do not have ZIP code information.
In addition, the Health Department reported today that it has monitored a total of 2,663 cases, and of those, 815 are still actively quarantined and another 1,848 have been released from quarantine.
Brianne Zwiener, Health Department communications specialist, 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, 446 have been at long-term care facilities, which includes residents and staff members who live inside Jefferson County.
The county has had at least 15 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 40 COVID-19 deaths, 29 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, 177 are active ones, and 240 have been released from isolation. Residents in long-term care facilities go through two quarantine periods before being released from isolation.
State, U.S. stats
Missouri had 78,062 positive cases of the coronavirus, including 1,426 new ones today, and 1,449 deaths related to the disease, including nine new ones reported today, according to the DHSS as of today.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported the U.S. had 5,752,653 cases, which includes 37,086 new cases, and a total of 177,759 coronavirus-related deaths, including 1,142 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.
