12 new COVID-19 deaths reported as Missouri closes in on 6,000 confirmed cases
A dozen more people have died from complications related to COVID-19 in Missouri in the last 24 hours, according to statistics from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
That brings the state’s total deaths to 189 people as of Tuesday, according to local health officials.
The number of people testing positive for the coronavirus increased by 134, bringing the total number to 5,941 patients.
This comes as Missouri hospitals reported an increase of 133 new patients hospitalized with the disease in the past 24 hours. As of Tuesday, 659 patients were hospitalized with the disease and another 342 patients were hospitalized and under investigation for COVID-19, according to data from the Missouri Hospital Association.
Hospitals continued to report shortages of personal protection equipment and testing materials, including surgical gowns, N95 masks, biological hoods, face shields and biological filters. Some hospitals reported having less than a two-day supply of certain equipment despite contingency strategies, according to the hospital association.
Meanwhile, hospitals had thousands of medical surgical beds and several hundred intensive care unit beds available.
The areas hit the hardest by the coronavirus are St. Louis County with 2,333 cases and 91 deaths; St. Louis with 877 cases and 21 deaths; St. Charles County with 458 cases and 15 deaths; Kansas City with 438 cases and 13 deaths; and Jackson County with 279 cases and eight deaths.
The disease has proven more deadly among older residents, with those 80 years old and older accounting for 74 deaths. The breakdown by age includes 49 deaths of people in their 70s; 41 in their 60s; 17 in their 50s, five in their 40s and three in their 30s. There have been no deaths of people under 30.
A total of 56,986 people have been tested in Missouri.
Missouri has conducted nearly three times as many tests as Kansas. Kansas on Tuesday reported that 2,025 people have tested positive for the coronavirus and 107 people have died.
Nationally, more than 814,587 people have tested positive for the coronavirus and more than 43,630 people have died from complications related to COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University.
