JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Health officials in Missouri updated the state’s COVID-19 Dashboard on Wednesday with the latest information on cases, deaths, and hospitalizations.
According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), the state has recorded 1,120,269 cumulative cases of SARS-CoV-2—an increase of 825 positive cases (PCR testing only)—and 14,907 total deaths as of Wednesday, Feb. 23, an increase of 13 from the day prior. That’s a case fatality rate of 1.33{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c}.
It’s important to keep in mind that not all cases and deaths announced on a particular day occurred in the last 24 hours.
The 7-day rolling average for cases in Missouri sits at 736; yesterday, it was 843. Exactly one month ago, the state rolling average was 9,999. That’s a decline of 92.6{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} month-over-month.
The state has administered 26,178 doses—including booster shots—of the vaccine in the last 7 days (this metric is subject to a delay, meaning the last three days are not factored in). The highest vaccination rates are among people over 65.
State health officials report 63.1{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of the total population has received at least one dose of the vaccine. Approximately 74.1{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of all adults 18 years of age and older have initiated the process.
Vaccination remains the safest way to achieve herd immunity. Herd immunity for COVID-19 requires 80{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} to 90{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of the population to have immunity, either by vaccination or recovery from the virus.
Just 7.61{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of 3.43 million fully vaccinated Missourians (or 261,333 people) have tested positive for COVID-19 since Jan. 1, 2021. And 1,277 people (or 0.04{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c}) of those vaccinated individuals have died from the virus.
The first doses were administered in Missouri on Dec. 13, 2020.
The city of Joplin, St. Louis County, and St. Charles County have vaccinated at least 60{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of their populations. St. Louis City, Kansas City, and Independence, as well as the counties of Boone, Atchison, Jackson, Franklin, Cole, and Greene, have at least 50{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of their populations fully vaccinated.
The Bureau of Vital Records at DHSS performs a weekly linkage between deaths to the state and death certificates to improve quality and ensure all decedents that died of COVID-19 are reflected in the systems. As a result, the state’s death toll will see a sharp increase from time to time. Again, that does not mean a large number of deaths happened in one day; instead, it is a single-day reported increase.
At the state level, DHSS does track probable or pending COVID deaths. However, those numbers are not added to the state’s death count until confirmed in the disease surveillance system either by the county or through analysis of death certificates. FOX 2 does not include probable or pending numbers.
Approximately 51.9{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of all reported cases are for individuals 39 years of age and younger. The state has further broken down the age groups into smaller units. The 18 to 24 age group has 132,417 recorded cases, while 25 to 29-year-olds have 97,179 cases.
People 80 years of age and older account for approximately 39.9{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of all recorded deaths in the state.
| Month / Year | Missouri COVID cases* (reported that month) |
| March 2020 | 1,327 |
| April 2020 | 6,235 |
| May 2020 | 5,585 |
| June 2020 | 8,404 |
| July 2020 | 28,772 |
| August 2020 | 34,374 |
| September 2020 | 41,416 |
| October 2020 | 57,073 |
| November 2020 | 116,576 |
| December 2020 | 92,808 |
| January 2021 | 66,249 |
| February 2021 | 19,405 |
| March 2021 | 11,150 |
| April 2021 | 12,165 |
| May 2021 | 9,913 |
| June 2021 | 12,680 |
| July 2021 | 42,780 |
| August 2021 | 60,275 |
| September 2021 | 45,707 |
| October 2021 | 33,855 |
| November 2021 | 37,594 |
| December 2021 | 74,376 |
| January 2022 | 255,880 |
| February 2022 | 48,555 |
Missouri has administered 9,575,339 PCR tests for COVID-19 over the entirety of the pandemic and as of Feb. 22, 22.0{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of those tests have come back positive. People who have received multiple PCR tests are not counted twice, according to the state health department.
According to the state health department’s COVID-19 Dashboard, “A PCR test looks for the viral RNA in the nose, throat, or other areas in the respiratory tract to determine if there is an active infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. A positive PCR test means that the person has an active COVID-19 infection.”
The Missouri COVID Dashboard no longer includes the deduplicated method of testing when compiling the 7-day moving average of positive tests. The state is now only using the non-deduplicated method, which is the CDC’s preferred method. That number is calculated using the number of tests taken over the period since many people take multiple tests. Under this way of tabulating things, Missouri has an 8.3{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} positivity rate as of Feb. 20. Health officials exclude the most recent three days to ensure data accuracy when calculating the moving average.
The 7-day positivity rate was 4.5{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} on June 1, 15.0{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} on Aug. 1, and 13.2{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} on Dec. 1, 2021.
As of Feb. 20, Missouri is reporting 1,638 COVID hospitalizations. The remaining inpatient hospital bed capacity sits at 21{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} statewide. The state’s public health care metrics lag behind by three days due to reporting delays, especially on weekends. Keep in mind that the state counts all beds available and not just beds that are staffed by medical personnel.
Across Missouri, 335 COVID patients are in ICU beds, leaving the state’s remaining intensive care capacity at 22{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c}.
If you have additional questions about the coronavirus, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services is available at 877-435-8411.
As of Feb. 22, the CDC identified 78,389,155 cases of COVID-19 and 932,894 deaths across all 50 states and 9 U.S.-affiliated districts, jurisdictions, and affiliated territories, for a national case-fatality rate of 1.19{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c}.
How do COVID deaths compare to other illnesses, like the flu or even the H1N1 pandemics of 1918 and 2009? It’s a common question.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), preliminary data on the 2018-2019 influenza season in the United States shows an estimated 35,520,883 cases and 34,157 deaths; that would mean a case-fatality rate of 0.09 percent. Case-fatality rates on previous seasons are as follows: 0.136 percent (2017-2018), 0.131 percent (2016-2017), 0.096 percent (2015-2016), and 0.17 percent (2014-2015).
The 1918 H1N1 epidemic, commonly referred to as the “Spanish Flu,” is estimated to have infected 29.4 million Americans and claimed 675,000 lives as a result; a case-fatality rate of 2.3 percent. The Spanish Flu claimed greater numbers of young people than typically expected from other influenzas.
Beginning in January 2009, another H1N1 virus—known as the “swine flu”—spread around the globe and was first detected in the US in April of that year. The CDC identified an estimated 60.8 million cases and 12,469 deaths; a 0.021 percent case-fatality rate.
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