The Jefferson County Health Department reported 51 new COVID-19 cases today (Oct. 15), including one at a long-term care facility.
That brings the total number of cases in the county to 5,390 since the first ones were reported in March.
Those cases are through midnight Wednesday (Oct. 14), according to the Health Department.
Of those cases, 938 cases are active ones, which includes lab confirmed and probable cases which are still under investigation and have not been released from either quarantine or isolation, the Health Department reported.
The county also has had a total of 66 COVID-19-related deaths since the pandemic began, according to the Health Department reported.
Of the 5,390 cases in the county, 4,970 are lab confirmed and 420 probable cases. A case is considered probable when a person has been exposed to a positive case and is exhibiting symptoms, the Health Department reported.
A total of 993 people currently is in quarantine, which means a person has a confirmed exposure to the virus and is in the process of completing a 14-day quarantine period.
Of the county’s total coronavirus cases, 645 have been at long-term care facilities, which includes residents and staff members who live in Jefferson County.
Of the 66 COVID-19 deaths, 48 have been at long-term care facilities, the Health Department reported.
The county has had at least 19 COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care facilities, according to the Health Department.
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.
The Health Department Board of Trustees is expected to talk about the pandemic at a special meeting set for 6 p.m. today at the Hillsboro Community Civic Club, 10349 Business 21. It will be live streamed on the agency’s YouTube channel.
County still at orange level
The county remains at the orange level on the Health Department’s four-color COVID-19 warning systems for a second week. The orange level is the second highest level and indicates widespread but controlled transmission of COVID-19.
The main indicator used to determine the color level is the seven-day rolling average number of cases per day per 100,000 residents. The rolling average number of cases in the county from Oct. 4 to Oct. 10 was 19.81 cases per 100,000 residents per day, which was a decrease from the previous week (Sept. 27 to Oct. 3), when the county had a rolling average of 22.80 cases per 100,000 residents per day.
When the county, which has a population of about 225,000 people, has a rolling average of 25 or more cases per 100,000 residents per day, it is moved to the highest level on the system – the red level, which calls for more mitigation to curb the spread of the virus.
The Health Department announced Oct. 7 the county has been moved back to the orange level after two weeks at the red level, which is the highest level and indicates widespread, uncontrolled community transmission of the virus.
The orange level indicates the county is seeing 10 to 24 cases per 100,000 people per day.
Health Department staff members have reported that once a week they review the rolling average number of cases from the previous Sunday through Saturday to see if the county should be moved to a different color on the warning system.
State, U.S. stats
Missouri has had 150,554 positive cases of the coronavirus and 2,442 deaths related to the disease, the DHSS reported today.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported the U.S. has had 7,894,768 cases, and a total of 216,025 coronavirus-related deaths, as 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.
