The Jefferson County Health Department has reported one more COVID-19 death, bringing the county’s total number of deaths from the virus to 255 since the start of the pandemic.
The latest death was a man in his 60s.
The county has had a total of 24,165 COVID-19 cases since the first ones were reported in March 2020. Of those, 1,347 have been from long-term care facilities, the Health Department reported.
While Jefferson County has seen a rise in new COVID-19 cases over the past few weeks, the county is still in yellow level on the Health Department’s COVID-19 warning system, for the ninth consecutive week. Yellow is the second lowest level on the four-color system and indicates minimal to moderate transmission of the virus.
Several factors are evaluated when determining the color level, including Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and White House Pandemic Task Force guidelines. However, the main indicator is the seven-day rolling average number of cases per day per 100,000 people.
The rolling average number of cases for the week of June 27 to July 3 was 6.29. That was up from the previous week, when the seven-day rolling average was 5.52 per day per 100,000 people in the county, which has a population of about 225,000.
Delta variant
The Health Department has issued a health advisory about the COVID-19 Delta variant and recommends residents, even fully vaccinated ones, wear a face mask indoors, unless they know everyone in that location has been vaccinated against the virus.
“(The health advisory) is not a mandate or an order, but basically it’s to raise a heightened awareness in the community,” Health Department Director Kelley Vollmar said.
“If we don’t do something now, we’re going to see it (lots of cases of the variant in the county), because we’ve seen it happen in Joplin and Branson and Springfield and those individuals, those locations, are already sending patients to St. Louis and Kansas City because their hospitals are overloaded.”
As of July 2, no known cases of the Delta variant had been reported in the county, Vollmar said.
“Given the fact we’ve seen the Delta variant in our neighboring counties, I would assume that it’s already here, we just haven’t detected it yet,” she said. “ I don’t want to raise an alarm, but given the fact that it is so close, and it’s becoming the dominant variant, we feel it’s important for people to be mindful of the potential of it spreading here soon.”
The Delta variant was first detected in Missouri on June 23 after wastewater was tested.
The health advisory says people should assume one to three people in any crowd are unvaccinated and children younger than 12 are unvaccinated.
“We do not advise children or unvaccinated residents to engage in large crowds and gatherings,” Health Department officials reported.
The Health Department recommends people only remove their masks when they know the vaccination status of everyone around them.
Mercy
Starting Sept. 30, all Mercy employees will be required to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
The majority of Mercy hospital patients with COVID-19 have been unvaccinated, so hospital officials decided to require employees be vaccinated, according to written statement.
“More than 95 percent of recent hospitalizations across the U.S. are people who aren’t vaccinated. The data is clear. Vaccination is key to saving lives,” said Dr. John Mohart, Mercy’s senior vice president of clinical services.
Mercy and more than 20 other healthcare organizations require employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Vaccines
As of today (July 7), 29.95 percent of Jefferson County residents have completed their COVID-19 vaccinations, the Health Department reported.
People may sign up for a vaccine appointment through the Health Department by going to the state vaccine Navigator website at covidvaccine.mo.gov/navigator/. Or, they may call 877-435-8411.
Comtrea, which also offers health care services around the county, provides vaccine clinics, too. To make an appointment, go to comtrea.org/vaccine, or call 636-232-2308.
To sign up for a vaccine with Mercy, go to mercy.net/MOVaccine. Those without internet access may call 833-364-6777.
SSM Health has an online vaccine appointment site at ssmhealth.com/access/covid19-vaccine-scheduling.
Other hospital systems and pharmacies also are registering people for the vaccines. To find a local vaccine site, visit vaccinefinder.org.
