The Jefferson County Health Department has reported five more COVID-19-related deaths, bringing the total number of county residents who have died from the virus to 288 since the pandemic began.
Those five deaths include a woman in her 40s, a woman in her 60s, a woman in her 70s and two men in their 80s.
During the week of Sept. 5 to Sept. 11, the county had 729 new COVID-19 cases.
Of those cases, 81.1 percent was among unvaccinated people, and 18.9 percent were breakthrough cases, meaning cases among those who had been vaccinated.
As of Wednesday (Sept. 15), the county had seen a total of 29,451 coronavirus cases since the first ones were reported in March 2020, Health Department epidemiologist Sara Wilton said.
Color status
For an eighth 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 in 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 week 36 – Sept. 5 to Sept. 11 – was 324.0, which was up from the previous week when there were 293.78 new cases.
“Cases in the 0-19 group made up 32.5 percent of all cases during week 36,” Wilton said. “There were 237 total new cases for the 0-19 group, which is the highest weekly case count we have seen so far for this group. Previously the highest case rate we saw in this age group was 217 cases back in November 2020 during our surge.”
A total of 13.7 percent of COVID-19 tests among Jefferson Countians during the week of Sept. 5-11 was positive. That is down from the prior week, which had 14.7 percent of people testing positive.
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, 36.2 percent of Jefferson County residents was vaccinated as of Wednesday, up slightly from the week before, when 35.7 percent was vaccinated, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
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 another local vaccine site, visit vaccinefinder.org.
