The Jefferson County Health Department announced four additional COVID-19 deaths today (Nov. 12), bringing the county’s total number of deaths from the virus to 94 since the pandemic began.
The newest deaths included a man in his 60s, a woman in her 60s and two men in their 70s, according to a Health Department.
One of the four deaths was from one of the county’s long-term care facilities.
Of the total number of deaths in the county, 55 have been connected to long-term care facilities, the Health Department reported.
The Health Department also reported 472 more COVID-19 cases since the last report on Tuesday (Nov. 10).
“We are seeing rising cases each day and additional deaths each week,” Health Department Director Kelley Vollmar said. “Strong widespread adoption of prevention measures by residents is required to bring this virus under control and make our communities safe before the holidays. Wash your hands, wear your mask, stay home if you are sick, limit gatherings and avoid unnecessary travel.”
Brianne Zwiener, communications specialist with the Health Department, said the agency is overtaxed and can’t keep up with tracing and contacting residents who have been exposed to people with a positive COVID-19 test, so it is prioritizing contact tracing for school-aged children.
Vollmar said those efforts are focused on young people between 3 and 19 years old, as well as on school-associated cases and long-term care associated cases.
She said the state orders health departments to prioritize youth and long-term care cases.
“Our caseload has reached a level that all our staff has had to be reassigned to help with the increased caseload in these categories,” Vollmar said.
She said county residents who are 20 or older and who are not associated with a school or long-term care facility are asked to self-isolate if they have a positive test. They are also asked to notify anyone they had been within 6 feet of for 15 minutes or more within the two-day period prior to the onset of their symptoms or positive test.
Vollmar said Maximus, the company the Health Department Board of Trustees voted to hire to help the agency with contact tracing, began staff training on Monday (Nov. 9) and will take over tracing on Nov. 15.
County COVID stats
With the 472 new COVID-19 cases reported today, the county has had a total of 8,472 cases since the first ones were reported in March, the Health Department reported.
Of those new cases, 225 were from Tuesday and 247 were from Wednesday (Nov. 11), which was the highest number of cases in a single day the county has seen since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the Health Department.
The county also has 2,474 active cases, the highest number of active cases so far, the Health Department reported.
Of the 8,472 cases in the county, 7,799 are lab confirmed and 673 are probable cases. A case is considered probable when a person has been exposed to a positive case and is exhibiting symptoms, the Health Department reported.
As of midnight Wednesday, 1,409 people were quarantined, which means they had a confirmed exposure to the virus and were in the process of completing a 14-day quarantine period.
A total of 5,884 people had been released from isolation, according to the Health Department.
Of the county’s total coronavirus cases, 786 have been at long-term care facilities, which includes residents and staff members who live in Jefferson County.
The county has had at least 20 COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care facilities, according to the Health Department.
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.
Color status
The Health Department reported Monday that after a record number of COVID-19 cases during the week of Nov. 1 to Nov. 7, the county would remain at the red level on the agency’s warning system.
Red is the highest level on the four-color system and indicates widespread and uncontrolled transmission of the virus.
The county had 1,024 COVID-19 cases between Nov. 1 and Nov. 7, which is the highest number of cases in one week.
During that same period, the seven-day rolling average of cases was 65.02 per 100,000 per day per 100,000 people in the county, which has a population of 250,000.
That is the highest rolling average the county has seen since the first COVID-19 cases were reported in March, Zwiener said.
Several factors are evaluated when determining the color level, including Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and White House Pandemic Task Force guidelines. However, the main indicator is the seven-day rolling average. If the county has a rolling average of 25 or more cases per day per 100,000 residents, it is moved to the red level.
Zwiener said the county’s COVID-19 test positivity rate is currently 27.52 percent, which also is the highest since the pandemic began.
Health Department officials say they are especially worried about the spread of the virus over the upcoming holiday season, when people tend to gather with family and friends. Those kinds of gatherings, the Health Department has warned, can lead to the spread of COVID-19, which is particularly dangerous for older people and those with pre-existing health conditions.
State, U.S. stats
Missouri has had 225,371 positive cases of the coronavirus and 3,339 deaths related to the disease, the DHSS reported today.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported the U.S. has had 10,314,254 cases, and a total of 241,069 coronavirus-related deaths, as of today.
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.
