Nearly 300 new COVID-19 cases pushes Missouri total to 1,327; another death reported
Nearly 300 new COVID-19 cases were reported Tuesday in Missouri, pushing the state’s total of cases to at least 1,327, according to statistics from Missouri health officials.
Another death was also reported, this one in St. Louis County, along with the updated statistics from health officials, bringing the total number of deaths to 14.
The number of new cases amounts to a nearly 29% increase from Monday, which had 1,031 cases and was also when the state surpassed the 1,000 mark. As of Monday, about 15,645 patients had been tested for the disease, according to state health officials.
Missouri has reported about three times as many coronavirus cases as has Kansas, which reported 428 cases on Tuesday, but Missouri has also tested about three times as many people as Kansas. People in both states have tested positive at a rate close to 8 percent.
There have been three deaths reported in Greene and St. Louis counties, two in St. Charles County and one each in Boone, Camden, Henry, Jackson and Lafayette counties and the city of St. Louis.
The areas hardest hit by the virus include St. Louis County with 492 cases, St. Louis with 136, Kansas City with 119, Jackson County with 77 and Boone County with 64.
The coronavirus is projected to peak in Missouri on May 18, according to research from the University of Washington.
The University of Washington data projects the state will have no shortage in hospital or ICU beds. However, 1,219 people are projected to die in the state by August 4, including 22 on the day the virus peaks, according to the research.
A long list of health care organizations — Missouri State Medical Association, Missouri Nurses Association, the Association of Missouri Nurse Practitioners, the Missouri Association of Nurse Anesthetists and the Missouri Center for Public Health Excellence — have called on Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to issue a statewide stay-at-home order to help combat the spread of COVID-19.
Democratic state auditor Nicole Galloway on Tuesday joined those voices in calling for such an order.
Parson has refused, saying that a one-size-fits-all approach won’t work in Missouri.
“We have to evaluate the whole state and have to look at it county by county and what is happening in those counties,” Parson said Monday.
