The Jefferson County Health Department reported three new COVID-19-related deaths today (August 4), bringing the county’s total number of deaths from the disease to 28.
The deaths were two men and a woman, all in their 80s, and they were from long-term care facilities.
Those were the first COVID-19 deaths in the county since July 16.
“We are saddened to report additional COVID-19 deaths in our community,” Health Department Director Kelley Vollmar said. “Each COVID-19 death is one too many. Our hearts are with their families and friends at this time.”
The Health Department also reported 55 new COVID-19 cases this evening, for a total of 1,614 cases since the pandemic began.
Vollmar said the recent increase in the number of new coronavirus cases in the county is “very concerning.”
“Getting in front of the rising COVID-19 cases in our community will require a unified effort,” Vollmar said. “We must come together as a county and protect our most vulnerable citizens with our most effective tools – wear a mask, social distance, avoid large crowds, practice good hygiene, eat well and exercise to maintain good health.”
Of the county’s total cases, 499 are open, or active, ones – the highest number of active cases since March when the county had its first cases, 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 reported 1,085 cases have been released from isolation, which means the patients recovered enough to be released from case management, according to the Health Department.
Two other cases are under investigation.
As of July 31, there were 87 county residents who had been hospitalized due to the coronavirus, the Health Department reported.
Vollmar said the department hasn’t reported new data on hospitalizations for the last two days because it is working to gather more detailed information from area hospitals, including current hospitalizations.
“The (number of) hospitalizations will be coming back to our reports, but with more detail,” she said today.
The county had 237 people test positive for the coronavirus and 1,768 test negative during the week that began July 19 (the most current data in that category), which translates into an 11.8 percent positivity rate, nearly twice the rate as the week before, the Health Department reported.
Health Department officials encourage residents to pay attention to the agency’s system that warns about the level of threat to the community from COVID-19 at any given time. The system uses a green, yellow or red guidance status to indicate the level of threat.
Currently the county is at the yellow guidance status, which means people should continue taking preventive steps to curb the spread of the virus.
The system also has a green level, which is less restrictive, and a red level, which would have more restrictions in place.
For more information about the system, go to jeffcohealth.org.
County coronavirus stats
Of the county’s total cases, 1,489 are lab-confirmed cases and 125 are probable cases, according to the Health Department.
The Health Department also reported today that 30 of the county’s cases were transmitted through travel, 695 were from contact and 889 are unknown.
According to the Health Department, 591 of the county’s coronavirus cases have been men, 787 cases have been women and 236 are unknown.
The confirmed COVID-19 cases in the county include 42 people younger than nine, 103 people 10 to 19 years old, 288 people 20-29 years old, 234 people 30-39 years old, 239 people 40-49 years old, 239 people 50-59 years old, 180 people 60-69 years old, 108 people 70-79 years old, 109 people in their 80s or older and 72 unknown.
The Health Department also reported that cases in the county have been reported for the following ZIP codes: 307 cases and 166 recovered cases in 63010 (Arnold), 66 cases and 40 recovered cases in 63012 (Barnhart), 45 cases and 33 recovered cases in 63016 (Cedar Hill), 24 cases and 16 recovered cases in 63019 (Crystal City), 71 cases and 50 recovered cases in 63020 (De Soto), 17 cases and 11 recovered case in 63023 (Dittmer), 24 cases and 15 recovered cases in 63025 (Eureka), 157 cases and 108 recovered cases in 63026 (Fenton), 208 cases and 162 recovered cases in 63028 (Festus), one case and one recovered case in 63047 (Hematite), 15 cases and 11 recovered in 63048 (Herculaneum), 109 cases and 68 recovered cases in 63049 (High Ridge), 73 cases and 44 recovered cases in 63050 (Hillsboro), 82 cases and 59 recovered cases in 63051 (House Springs), 199 cases and 142 recovered cases in 63052 (Imperial), one case and zero recovered in 63057 (Liguori), one case and one recovered cases in 63065 (Mapaville), seven cases and three recovered case in 63069 (Pacific) and 37 cases and 26 recovered cases in 63070 (Pevely). Another 170 cases do not have ZIP code information.
In addition, the Health Department reported today that it has monitored a total of 1,977 cases, and of those, 818 are still actively being monitored and another 1,159 have been released from monitoring.
Zwiener 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 cases of the coronavirus, 311 have been at long-term care facilities, which includes residents and staff members who live inside Jefferson County. Two new cases were reported today.
Jefferson County has had at least eight COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care facilities, Vollmar said.
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 28 COVID-19 deaths, 21 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, 104 are active ones, and 186 have been released from isolation. Residents in long-term care facilities go through two quarantine periods before being released from isolation.
Also, according to the Health Department, 26 people from long-term care facilities have been hospitalized, as of Friday.
State, U.S. stats
As of today, Missouri had 54,080 positive cases of the coronavirus and 1,266 deaths related to the disease, according to the DHSS.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported the U.S. had 4,649,102 cases, which includes 47,576 new cases, and a total of 154,471 coronavirus-related deaths, including 469 new deaths, as of Monday (August 3).
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.
