The Jefferson County Health Department reported three more positive cases of COVID-19 this evening (May 5), for a total of 293 cases in the county.
“Our positive case count remains low, but steady in Jefferson County,” Jefferson County Health Department Director Kelley Vollmar said.
However, Vollmar said on a Facebook Live video tonight that because of the nature of the virus, she expects to see a second wave of cases now that economic and social activity has resumed in the county.
“We all want to get back to what we consider to be our normal,” she said. “The reality is that our normal is going to be changing.”
Vollmar said she suggests people wear masks, frequently wash their hands and keep social distance from others.
According to the Health Department, 40 county residents have been hospitalized due to the coronavirus.
Of the county’s positive cases, the Health Department said 122 are still active ones, which are the number of positive cases excluding COVID-19 deaths and those patients who have been released from isolation.
The Health Department reported that 161 people have been released from isolation, which means they have recovered enough to be released from case management, according to the Health Department.
Vollmar said the minimum criteria for patients diagnosed with the disease to be released from case management is that they “are seven days past the onset of their symptoms, they have improved symptoms and they are fever free for at least 72 hours.”
According to the Health Department’s dashboard on its website, the county has had 120 male cases, 169 female cases and four unknown cases.
The cases in the county include four people 10 or younger, 20 people in their 20s, 43 people in their 30s, 40 people in their 40s, 65 people in their 50s, 59 people in their 60s, 29 people in their 70s, 27 people in their 80s and older and six unknown cases.
The Health Department also reported that cases in the county have been reported for the following ZIP codes: 35 cases and 27 recovered cases in 63010 (Arnold), 12 cases and 10 recovered cases in 63012 (Barnhart), 10 cases and eight recovered cases in 63016 (Cedar Hill), nine cases and six recovered cases in 63019 (Crystal City), 19 cases and 14 recovered cases in 63020 (De Soto), two cases and one recovered case in 63023 (Dittmer), four cases and four recovered cases in 63025 (Eureka), 23 cases and 16 recovered cases in 63026 (Fenton), 96 cases and 24 recovered cases in 63028 (Festus), four cases and one recovered in 63048 (Herculaneum), 13 cases and nine recovered cases in 63049 (High Ridge), 11 cases and seven recovered cases in 63050 (Hillsboro), 13 cases and eight recovered cases in 63051(House Springs), 25 cases and 18 recovered cases in 63052 (Imperial), one case and one recovered case in 63069 (Pacific) and eight cases and five recovered cases in 63070 (Pevely). Information is not available for eight cases.
In addition, the Health Department reported it has monitored a total of 497 cases, and of those, 283 are still actively being monitored and another 214 have been released from monitoring.
Brianne Zwiener, the Health Department’s communication 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.
Zwiener said a person released from monitoring has completed the 14 days without a temperature or symptoms.
Festus Manor
The county has had 10 coronavirus-related deaths, and five of those were residents at the Festus Manor Care Center, according to a post on the nursing home’s Facebook page.
Four of those five deaths at Festus Manor were reported April 30 and included two men, one his 80s and the other in his 60s, and two women, one in her 80s and the other in her 60s, the Health Department reported.
On April 2, the Health Department announced the county’s first death related to the coronavirus – a Festus manor resident, a woman in her 80s.
On April 5, the Health Department announced a second coronavirus-related death in the county, a man in his 40s, who had been hospitalized, according to the report.
The Health Department announced the third coronavirus-related death April 10 – a woman in her 90s, who had been hospitalized, according to the report.
On April 26, the Health Department reported a fourth coronavirus-related death, a woman in her 70s who had been hospitalized.
On May 2, the Health Department announced the ninth and tenth deaths – a woman in her 70s and a man in his 70s, and neither one was hospitalized, according to the Health Department.
The county’s 293 confirmed cases of the coronavirus include at least some of the 112 cases found at long-term care facilities in the county. Most of the cases at county long-term care facilities have been at the Festus Manor Care Center, where 62 residents and 25 staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus, the nursing home previously reported.
All the residents and staff members at the nursing home were tested for the virus, and there were 170 negative tests, according to reports.
As of this evening, 50 Festus Manor residents were in the COVID-19 unit at the center and 60 were in the well unit, the nursing home reported.
According to a spokesperson, 26 residents were moved to a COVID-19 recovery step-down unit this week.
Seven Festus Manor residents who tested positive have been hospitalized, and three of them have returned from the hospital, according to a statement.
Out of the 25 staff members who tested positive, only four are still quarantined, Festus Manor spokesperson reported.
The Health Department said staff members at long-term care facilities who do not live in Jefferson County are included in the number of cases reported for the long-term facilities, but are not included in the total case count for the county.
Zwiener said the Health Department would not name the other long-term facilities where more positive cases have been reported.
State, U.S. stats
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now recommends everyone wear a face mask while in a public setting, according to its website.
As of today, Missouri had 8,916 positive cases of the coronavirus and 377 deaths related to the disease, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
The CDC reported the U.S. had 1,171,510 cases, which includes 19,128 new cases and a total of 68,279 coronavirus-related deaths, including 823 new deaths, as of today.
Coronavirus symptoms include fever, cough, shortness of breath, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat and new loss of taste or smell.
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.
