The Jefferson County Health Department has reported another COVID-19-related death in the county – a woman in her 90s from a long-term care facility.
“Our deepest condolences go out to her family and friends at this time,” Health Department Director Kelley Vollmar said.
With the latest death, it brings the county’s total number of deaths from the disease to 48, including 36 at long-term care facilities.
“We must each do our part to prevent the spread of COVID-19 within our communities, to protect not only ourselves, but our families, friends, and neighbors,” Vollmar said.
The Health Department also reported 72 new COVID-19 cases, including four at long-term care facilities.
Those cases are through midnight Wednesday night (Sept. 2), bringing the total number of cases in the county total to 2,963 since the pandemic began.
Of the total cases, 749 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 2,157 cases have been released from isolation, which means the patients recovered enough to be released from case management.
Another nine cases are under investigation.
Vollmar urges residents to take steps to limit the spread of the virus, like avoiding crowds, social distancing, wearing masks and washing hands frequently.
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, but the county is very close to moving into the highest level on the warning system – the red level, 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 seven-day rolling average hit 24.32 (per 100,000 people), just shy of the 25-case threshold to move the county into its highest alert status,” Vollmar reported Wednesday. “New positive COVID-19 cases have increased 28 % from last week, with an estimated 13.4 % positivity rate among tests.”
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, 2,703 are lab confirmed and 260 cases are probable, the Health Department reported.
For the week that ended Aug. 29 (the most recent data available), a total of 2,618 county residents had been tested for COVID-19, and 351 were positive and 2,267 were negative. That translates to a 13.4 percent positivity rate, which is higher than the week before, when 3,041 people were tested and there was an 8.5 percent positivity rate.
As of Aug. 29 (the most recent data available), a total of 185 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.
The Health Department reported today that 35 of the county’s total cases were contracted through travel, 1,157 were transmitted through contact with someone with the virus, and it’s unknown how 1,771 of the cases were contracted.
According to the Health Department, 1,261 of the county’s coronavirus cases have been men, 1,518 cases have been women and 184 are unknown.
The confirmed COVID-19 cases in the county include 91 people younger than nine, 257 people 10 to 19 years old, 540 people 20-29 years old, 421 people 30-39 years old, 455 people 40-49 years old, 431 people 50-59 years old, 319 people 60-69 years old, 200 people 70-79 years old, 193 people in their 80s or older and 56 unknown.
The Health Department also reported that cases in the county have been reported for the following ZIP codes: 514 cases and 271 recovered cases in 63010 (Arnold), 151 cases and 87 recovered cases in 63012 (Barnhart), 81 cases and 49 recovered cases in 63016 (Cedar Hill), 75 cases and 49 recovered cases in 63019 (Crystal City), 182 cases and 103 recovered cases in 63020 (De Soto), 26 cases and 17 recovered case in 63023 (Dittmer), 33 cases and 21 recovered cases in 63025 (Eureka), 270 cases and 192 recovered cases in 63026 (Fenton), 425 cases and 271 recovered cases in 63028 (Festus), one case and zero recovered in 63030 (Fletcher), one case and one recovered case in 63047 (Hematite), 45 cases and 23 recovered in 63048 (Herculaneum), 190 cases and 126 recovered cases in 63049 (High Ridge), 212 cases and 117 recovered cases in 63050 (Hillsboro), 159 cases and 97 recovered cases in 63051 (House Springs), 396 cases and 274 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 seven recovered case in 63069 (Pacific) and 79 cases and 49 recovered cases in 63070 (Pevely). Another 108 cases do not have ZIP code information.
In addition, the Health Department reported today that it has monitored a total of 3,002 cases, and of those, 727 are still actively quarantined and another 2,275 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 coronavirus cases, 484 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 48 COVID-19 deaths, 36 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 262 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 88,610 positive cases of the coronavirus and 1,545 deaths related to the disease, according to the DHSS as of today.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported the U.S. had 6,087,403 cases, and a total of 185,092 coronavirus-related deaths.
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.
