14 more COVID-19 deaths reported in Missouri as new cases jump by more than 200
As the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus continued to rise in Missouri, state health officials reported 14 new COVID-19-related deaths Wednesday.
The total number of deaths from the disease in Missouri rose to 147, up more than 10% from Tuesday’s total of 133, according to the latest statistics.
Missouri also saw new cases increase by more than 200, driving the state’s total cases to 4,895.
There were 594 patients hospitalized as of Wednesday, an increase of five over the last 24 hours, according to the Missouri Hospital Association. Another 430 patients were under investigation for COVID-19, a decrease of 22 from the day before.
Dozens of hospitals reported shortages or critical shortages of personal protection equipment and testing materials, including N95 masks, surgical masks, face shields and exam gloves. Hospitals reported that thousands of medical surgical and several hundred intensive care unit beds were available.
The areas hardest hit by the virus include St. Louis County, which had 1,938 cases; St. Louis with 700; St. Charles with 392; Kansas City with 371; and Jackson County with 243.
The number of cases in Kansas City increased by 25 and the number of cases in Jackson County increased by 6 from Tuesday.
At 63 deaths, St. Louis County has seen the largest number of people die of complications from COVID-19. That’s up 10 from Tuesday’s total. St. Louis has seen 19 deaths.
St. Charles County has reported 12 deaths, followed by Kansas City which has 11 deaths. Greene and Jackson counties each have had seven people die from the disease. Cass County has reported four deaths. Franklin and Jefferson counties each have had three deaths.
Bates, Boone, Buchanan, Callaway, Camden, Cape Girardeau, Carter, Clay, Cole, Dunklin, Henry, Lafayette, Lincoln, Linn, Pulaski, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve and Taney counties have each reported one death.
The largest number of deaths, 52, are among people who were in the 80s or older. That is followed by those in their 70s with 41 deaths, and those in their 60s with 24 deaths. Those in their 50s accounted for 15 deaths. Meanwhile, those in their 30s and 40s accounted for a combined total of 7 deaths.
As of Tuesday, about 48,800 people have been tested in Missouri. That’s more than three times the number of tests conducted by Kansas, according to data provided by health officials.
In Kansas, 1,494 people have tested positive for the coronavirus and 76 people have died of complications related to the disease.
Nationally, there have been at least 619,607 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S., and more than 27,760 people have died, according to statistics from Johns Hopkins University.
