The Jefferson County Health Department has reported four more COVID-19-related deaths, bringing the total number of county residents who have died from the virus to 324 since the pandemic began.
Those four deaths include a man in his 30s, a man in his 60s, a woman in her 70s and a man in his 70s.
During the week of Oct. 10 to Oct. 16, the county had 411 new COVID-19 cases, which was down from the previous week when 512 cases were reported.
Of those 411 cases, 78.3 percent was among unvaccinated people, and 21.7 percent was breakthrough cases, meaning cases among those who had been vaccinated, according to the Health Department.
Sara Wilton, the Health Department epidemiologist, said cases are going down.
“Our weekly case count decreased 22.89 percent from week 40 (Oct. 3-9) to week 41 (Oct. 10-16),” she said.
As of today (Oct. 20), the county had seen a total of 32,200 coronavirus cases since the first ones were reported in March 2020, the report said.
Red status
For a 13th 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 Oct. 10 to Oct. 16 was 182.67, which was down from the previous week when there were 227.56 new cases per 100,000 people, the Health Department reported.
Brianne Zwiener, public communications officer, said this week the county’s percentage of positive tests for week 41 was .97 percent, which was down from the prior week at 11 percent, which means the county has dropped to the orange level for that category.
“We are .03 away from red for percent positivity, so we are going to take that win,” she said.
While the percent positivity is in the orange status, overall the county is still considered in the red status.
“We look at the case average more than the percent positive rate,” Zwiener said. “To be in orange status, the number of cases per 100,000 people need to be under 100 cases.”
Vaccines
Health officials urge residents to get the COVID-19 vaccine and to take other steps to limit the spread of the virus, including wearing masks and social distancing.
As of today, 42.84 percent of Jefferson County residents was vaccinated, which was up slightly from the week before, when 42.63 percent was vaccinated, according to the Health Department.
Wilton said two age groups have passed the 70 percent vaccinated mark – those age 70 to 79, with 76.75 percent vaccinated, and those 80 and older, with 77.55 percent vaccinated.
“Our 60-69-year-old age group is close at 67.87 percent fully vaccinated,” she said.
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.
