The Jefferson County Health Department reported 43 new COVID-19 cases today (July 29), including three at long-term care facilities in the county.
With today’s new cases, the county has had a total of 1,291 cases since the pandemic began in March.
“The COVID-19 positivity rate for Jefferson County has increased 93 percent over the past seven days, moving from 6.1 percent on July 18 to 11.8 percent on July 25,” Health Department Director Kelley Vollmar said this evening.
The positive rate is the percentage of people who are tested for the virus and get a positive result.
“The most significant change (in the positivity rate) has been in our 0-19 population, which experienced a 49 percent increase over last week’s case numbers,” Vollmar said.
According to Health Department, 113 cases have been reported for the 0-19 population.
Of the county’s total cases, 348 are open, or active, ones, the Health Department reported.
Active cases are the number of positive cases excluding COVID-19 deaths and those patients who have been released from isolation.
The Health Department reported the county has had 25 COVID-19-related deaths and 918 people have been released from isolation, which means they recovered enough to be released from case management.
Despite the steady rise in cases, there have been no COVID-19 deaths reported in the county since July 16.
However, Vollmar has said that with the increase in cases, deaths are likely to increase as well.
Tuesday meeting
During a quarrelsome, four-hour-long meeting on Tuesday, the Health Department Board of Trustees spent a lot of time talking about what further actions, if any, the agency should take to curb the spread of the disease, including the possibility of a mandatory mask order.
The meeting was scheduled after an equally long and contentious meeting the previous Tuesday when the same topic was considered.
However, after all the hours of discussions, debates, public comments and presentations during the two meetings, the board decided Tuesday not to vote on implementing a countywide mask order or stepping up preventive measures.
Instead, the board decided to continue focusing on efforts to educate business people and other members of the public about how they can prevent community spread of COVID-19.
Board member James Prater said if a mask order is needed, he would like to see the Health Department board and the county government issue one together, like the stay-at-home order that was in place for the county from March 24 to May 4.
Prater suggested the Health Department work on a marketing campaign about encouraging the use of masks, social distancing, hand washing and more.
During the meeting, Vollmar said in addition to wearing masks, other measures she believes would help limit the spread of the disease include telecommuting for work and limiting mass gatherings.
“We really didn’t want to put a lot of restrictions when we opened back up and I think that was a mistake,” she said.
The board’s lawyer, Jessica Mikale, told the trustees that if they issued a mask mandate anyone not wearing one in public could be charged with a class A misdemeanor, but the Health Department would need the support of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to enforce the order.
Jefferson County Sheriff Dave Marshak has said he doesn’t want his deputies to be “the mask police,” adding that they won’t force anyone to put on a mask.
However, he said businesses and other organizations may require customers or others to wear masks and if they refuse to comply or to leave the property, then the businesses may seek trespassing charges and deputies will try to get the customers to comply or leave, and, if necessary, remove them from the property and possibly cite them for trespassing.
Masks required at Health Department facilities
While the board didn’t vote on a countywide mask mandate, it did vote 3-2 to require Health Department employees and others visiting any Health Department building or mobile unit to wear a mask. Board members Dennis Diehl, Tim Pigg and Amber Henry voted yes, and Prater and Suzy Davis voted no.
Vollmar said accommodations for people who cannot wear a mask will be made so they can still get services from the Health Department.
After the vote to require masks in Health Department facilities, Diehl asked Davis – the only board member without a mask – to put one on, and she refused.
Vollmar said moving forward, if a board member decides not to wear a mask, accommodations will be made to allow the person to take part in another way.
“We will find a way to make an accommodation so they are able to actively participate in the board meeting, but they do not actually have to physically be sitting in a board meeting to participate,” she said.
More heated moments
At the start of the meeting, Davis claimed she wanted to have a guest speaker on the agenda to give a presentation. Diehl said he asked board members to submit any presentations in advance and Davis did not submit anything.
Davis’ guest was Jim Neeley of Cameron, a physician, state representative and candidate for the Republican nomination for governor. He argued that masks likely would not help much.
About 19 residents were allowed into the meeting to speak to the board.
One member of the public stated she could not breathe in her mask and took her mask off. Diehl and Pigg asked her several times to put her mask back on, and Davis encouraged her to keep her mask off.
“Leave her alone Tim,” Davis said.
The board also read written comments from people who emailed them prior to the meeting or who didn’t want to wear a mask and wrote them down to be read.
The majority of comments were against mandatory masks.
Tempers flared several times during the meeting when Davis interrupted Vollmar or another board member while they were speaking.
At one point while Vollmar was presenting data about COVID-19, Davis interrupted her, claiming the information was wrong, and both Diehl and Mikale told Davis she would be asked to leave the meeting if she continued interrupting Vollmar.
“I have never seen anyone so unprofessional in my life,” Henry said. “You have a right to say yours and she has a right to say hers.”
Vollmar repeatedly asked Davis to let her finish speaking.
During one of the interruptions, Vollmar explained that she had 20 years’ experience in public health, and Diehl, who was a former Jefferson County Health Department director, had 40 years in public health.
“We (Health Department representatives) have been a respected member of this community for over 70 years and not once during that 70 years have we ever had anyone come in and disrespect public health, the board, the community and scientific evidence to the manner that you have done within the last month,” Vollmar told Davis.
Protests
Groups for and against a mandatory mask order gathered outside the Health Department before the meeting. Many people drove by honking, and the group against masks sang and chanted.
About 25 people were there to support a mask mandate and about 35 people were there to protest against a mask mandate.
Denny Robinson, 64, of Imperial was among those opposing mandatory masks.
“I believe it’s about taking away our rights,” he said.
Nancy Sarocco, 52, of Fenton said she believes masks do not work.
“I feel like it’s going to lead to other unconstitutional requirements,” she said.
Jessica Shepherd, 40, of Herculaneum said she attended the meeting to show her support for a mandatory mask requirement.
“I support the science,” she said. “There is a lot of misinformation out there.”
Jennifer Ruble, 44, of Festus said she hopes the Health Department required mandatory masks because then the school will require students to wear them.
“The schools will listen to what the Jefferson County Health Department says and does,” she said.
County coronavirus stats
Of the county’s total cases, 1,182 are lab-confirmed cases and 109 are probable cases, according to the Health Department.
In addition, 80 county residents have been hospitalized due to the coronavirus, the Health Department reported.
The Health Department also reported today that 29 of the county’s cases were transmitted through travel, 581 were from contact and 681 are unknown.
According to the Health Department, 496 of the county’s coronavirus cases have been men, 663 cases have been women and 132 are unknown.
The confirmed COVID-19 cases in the county include 31 people younger than nine, 82 people 10 to 19 years old, 207 people 20-29 years old, 163 people 30-39 years old, 176 people 40-49 years old, 192 people 50-59 years old, 147 people 60-69 years old, 75 people 70-79 years old, 60 people in their 80s or older and 158 unknown.
Vollmar presented some new data during the Tuesday meeting, including information about comorbidities among COVID-19 patients, which is a presence of two chronic diseases or conditions in a patient.
The number one comorbidity for COVID-19 positive cases, she said, is hypertension, the second is obesity, the third is depression, the fourth is fluid and electrolyte disorders, and the fifth is chronic pulmonary disease. The top five comorbidities for patients with COVID-19 who have died are fluid and electrolyte disorders, cardiac arrhythmias, hypertension, neurological disorders, and diabetes.
Vollmar also said she knows about four people in Jefferson County who are now positive with COVID-19 for a second time.
Long-term care facilities
Of the county’s total cases of the coronavirus, 265 have been at long-term care facilities, which includes residents and staff members who live inside Jefferson County.
Jefferson County has had at least eight COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care facilities, Vollmar said.
The board also voted 4-1 Tuesday, with Davis voting no, to issue a mandatory isolation and quarantine order for one of the long-term care facility that’s had an outbreak but is believed not to be following a voluntary isolation and quarantine.
Vollmar did not name the facility during the meeting.
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.
Of the county’s 25 COVID-19 deaths, 18 have been in long term-care facilities, the Health Department reported.
The Health Department also reported that of the total number of cases at long-term care facilities, 73 are active ones, and 174 have been released from isolation. Residents in long-term care facilities go through two quarantine periods before being released from isolation.
Also, according to the Health Department, 22 people from long-term care facilities have been hospitalized.
State, U.S. stats
As of today, Missouri had 46,750 positive cases of the coronavirus and 1,220 deaths related to the disease, according to the DHSS.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported the U.S. had 4,339,997 cases, which includes 59,862 new cases, and a total of 148,866 coronavirus-related deaths, including 1,194 new 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.
