The Jefferson County Health Department has reported nine more COVID-19-related deaths, bringing the total number of county residents who have died from the virus to 305 since the pandemic began.
Those nine deaths include a man in his 40s, a woman in her 50s, a man in his 60s, two women in their 60s, a man in his 70s, a woman in her 70s and two women in their 80s.
Two of the nine deaths are connected to long-term care facilities, according to the Health Department.
The county has seen a total of 93 deaths connected to long-term care facilities since the start of the pandemic, the Health Department reported.
During the week of Sept. 19 to Sept. 25, the county had 696 new COVID-19 cases, which was down from the previous week when there were 770 cases were reported.
Of those 696 cases, 93.4 percent was among unvaccinated people, and 6.6 percent was breakthrough cases, meaning cases among those who had been vaccinated, according to the Health Department.
As of today (Sept. 29), the county had seen a total of 30,775 coronavirus cases since the first ones were reported in March 2020, the report said.
“We reported 232 youth cases in week 38 (Sept. 19-25), accounting for 33.3 percent of all cases reported in that week,” Health Department epidemiologist Sara Wilton said
Red status
For a tenth 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 Sept. 19 to Sept. 25 was 309.33, which was down from the previous week when there were 342.22 new cases per 100,000 people, the Health Department reported.
A total of 13.3 percent of COVID-19 tests among Jefferson Countians during that week was positive, which was the same as the prior week, the report said.
Vaccines
Health officials urge residents to get the vaccine and to take other steps to limit the spread of the virus, including wearing masks and social distancing.
As of Wednesday, 41.93 percent of Jefferson County residents was vaccinated, which was up from the week before, when 36.28 percent was vaccinated, according to the Health Department.
“This is a significant increase from week 37; however, the state recently updated vaccination records to correct missing county data,” Wilton said. “While reviewing the completeness of residence address data in ShowMeVax, the Missouri DHSS team discovered a few areas of correction: adding counties when they were missing from the address, updating records where the listed county did not match the provided address and updating records in which the state was incorrectly entered.”
DHSS has announced that eligible people who have received the Pfizer vaccine may now get a booster shot of it’s been at least six months after their initial series.
People who should get the booster include those 65 and older, those who live in long-term care facilities and people 50-64 years old with underlying medical conditions.
People who may get the booster include people 18-49 years old with underlying medical conditions and people 18-64 years old who are at increased risk for exposure and transmission because of occupation, like first-line health care workers, teachers and first responders.
People do not have to get booster shots at the same location where they received their first two doses, according to the statement.
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.
