The Jefferson County Health Department has reported three more COVID-19-related deaths, including a woman in her 20s, the youngest of the 269 county residents who have died from the virus since the pandemic began.
The other two recently reported deaths were a man in his 70s and a man in his 80s.
During the week of Aug. 15-21, the county saw 529 new COVID-19 cases, and of those, 86.39 percent were among unvaccinated people, and 13.61 percent were breakthrough cases, meaning cases among those who had been vaccinated, the Health Department reported.
As of today, the county has seen a total of 27,502 coronavirus cases since the first ones were reported in March 2020.
Color status
For a fifth consecutive week, the county is in the red status on the Health Department’s COVID-19 warning system. 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 Aug. 15-21 was 235.11, which was down from the previous week when there were 250.2 new cases.
“Our highest percent increase in cases from week 32 to week 33 once again came from our 0-9 year age group,” Health Department epidemiologist Sara Wilton said. “At this time, there are 21 COVID patients aged 0-18 years old hospitalized and seven are in the Intensive Care Unit (in St. Louis-area hospitals).”
A total of 13.3 percent of COVID-19 tests among Jefferson Countians was positive during the week of Aug. 15-21. That is down from the prior week, which had 15.54 percent of people testing positive.
COVID treatment expanded to county
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has entered into a contract with SLS in Galveston, Texas, to provide monoclonal antibody (mAb) infusion treatments for COVID-19 patients for the next 30 days in five Missouri counties, including Jefferson County.
Mercy Jefferson in Crystal City is providing space on the hospital property for the state to administer the infusion program, a Mercy spokesman said.
He said the state will provide all the staff and equipment for the program.
Monoclonal antibodies are laboratory made proteins that mimic the immune system’s ability to fight off harmful viruses like the coronavirus, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The monoclonal antibody treatment is authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
"As the Delta variant continues to spread across the state and pose serious health risks to unvaccinated Missourians, our state teams are continuing to do everything possible to provide support and save lives," Gov. Mike Parson said. "It is our hope that these infusion centers will help relieve hospital strain and health care worker fatigue as we move forward with our efforts to get more Missourians vaccinated. Just as we have done from the beginning, we will continue to work with our partners to identify resource needs and respond to this virus."
According to a statement from DHSS, it is estimated up to 4,000 patients in the state will receive the treatment in the next 30 days.
Vaccines
Health officials urge residents to take steps to limit the spread of the virus, including wearing masks and getting the COVID-19 vaccine, which they say is the best way to curb the spread of the virus and prevent hospitalizations and deaths from the virus.
Overall, 33.8 percent of Jefferson County residents was vaccinated as of Wednesday (Aug. 25), up slightly from the week before, when 33.03 percent was vaccinated, according to the Health Department.
On Aug. 23, the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine received full FDA approval for people 16 and older.
“Full FDA approval means it has gone through every level of review, including even more data on safety, manufacturing, and effectiveness over long periods of time and includes real world data,” Wilton said.
Certain immunocompromised people may now receive a booster vaccine – a third dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine – if it’s been at least 28 days after their second dose, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has announced.
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.
