The Jefferson County Health Department has reported five more COVID-19-related deaths, bringing the county’s total number of deaths from the virus to 260 since the start of the pandemic.
The five deaths include three men in their 50s, a woman in her 60s and a woman in her 80s.
Coronavirus cases are again on the rise in the county, and as of today (Aug. 4), the county had a total of 25,736 cases since the first ones were reported in March 2020.
It had been almost a month since the Health Department reported any new COVID-19 deaths in the county.
Health Department epidemiologist Sara Wilton said with cases on the rise, she expects to see an increase in COVID deaths.
“We should expect that number to increase once again now that cases and hospitalizations have been increasing,” she said. “Deaths always lag behind the cases and hospitalizations, and we typically receive confirmation of COVID-related deaths around three to five weeks after the deaths occur.”
Color status
Jefferson County is in the red status on the Health Department’s COVID-19 warning system for a second week. Red is the highest level on the four-color system and indicates high transmission of the virus within the community.
The main indicator of the color status is the total number of cases in a seven-day period per 100,000 people.
The number of cases per 100,000 people for the week of July 25 to July 31 was 220.89. That is up from the previous week, when there were 165.33 cases.
“Our percentage of tests that are positive within the last seven days is 16.9 percent. This past weeks’ numbers are similar to those we experienced in mid-October of 2020 right before our biggest surge last year,” Wilton said.
She said the county has had 47 reported breakthrough cases in Jefferson County, and of those, five were hospitalized and three were asymptomatic.
Rise in kid cases
Wilton said there was a 352 percent increase in the number of cases in children from June to July. In June, 59 cases were reported, and there were 267 cases in July.
She said the Delta variant has contributed to the increase.
“Delta variant has been shown to be two times more infectious than the original strain of
COVID-19 and has a higher chance of infecting children,” she said.
Wilton said 14.72 percent of those 10-19-year-olds in Jefferson County have been fully vaccinated.
Vaccines
As of today, 31.64 percent of Jefferson County residents have completed their COVID-19 vaccinations, up just slightly from the week before, when 31.11 percent of countians had been vaccinated, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported.
“We were hoping we would see a slightly bigger increase in first dose recipients after the (state) vaccine incentive was announced, but the small increase was on par with the rate of increase we have experienced the past several weeks,” she said.
For the incentive, the DHSS has partnered with the Missouri Lottery to pick 180 winners in each of five drawings for a total of 900 winners who each will receive a $10,000 cash prize or $10,000 in an education saving account. Those who have been vaccinated may enter at covidvaccine.mo.gov/win.
The Health Department continue to urge people to take steps to limit the spread of the virus, including getting the vaccine and wearing masks.
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.
Or, to find a local vaccine site, visit vaccinefinder.org.
