Nearly 140 previously unreported COVID-19 deaths added to Missouri’s total count
Missouri health officials added nearly 140 previously unreported coronavirus deaths to their statewide total overnight Monday.
In a statement sent at about 11:15 p.m. Monday, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said they added 138 deaths to their COVID-19 dashboard, bringing the total number of deaths to 3,299 statewide.
These deaths were added after the health department reviewed a group of death certificates and linked them to the disease, said Lisa Cox, communications director for the department of health.
The bulk of the deaths were in October. Three were in September and 12 occurred in November.
The number of Kansas Citians who have died from COVID-19 increased by nine for a total of 236 deaths, according to the updated data. The number of Jackson County residents who died from the disease increased by five to 150 deaths. Clay County saw the number of deaths increase by one to 52. Meanwhile, Platte County remained unchanged.
Cox said that beginning this week, the health department will analyze death certificates on Mondays, meaning there could be a “sharp increase” in deaths added to the state’s total on Tuesday. This had previously been happening on Fridays.
As of Tuesday, 216,697 Missourians have been infected with the coronavirus, according to the health department’s COVID-19 dashboard.
The positivity rate over the past seven days, using the Center for Disease Control’s method, was 20.6% compared to 39.4% using the state’s method, which it said is more conservative. The state method uses the number of individuals tested since many people take multiple tests.
There were 2,055 COVID-19 patients in the hospital as of Nov. 7, including 457 in the ICU and 237 on ventilators.
The Kansas City metropolitan area added nearly 950 COVID-19 cases Monday, further driving up the average for new cases to a record level.
Over the past seven days, there was an average of 859 new cases per day.
The area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri, as well as Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas, gained 946 cases for a total of 59,873.
The seven-day average for new cases was a record 859. One week ago, it was 608. The average has more than doubled from two weeks ago when it was 379, according to data maintained by The Star.
With 212 deaths, October was the deadliest month of the pandemic for the metro.
The University of Kansas Health System also reported a record number of deaths in October and doctors said the average age of those who had been hospitalized and died had decreased. In March and April, the average age was 72. In September and October, that had dropped to 63.
Officials at the health system and across the metro are growing increasingly worried about the rise in new cases. Typically, hospitalizations lag behind new cases and deaths lag behind hospitalizations.
On Monday, 68 patients were hospitalized with the virus at the health system. That broke Friday’s record of 53.
Last Friday, a group of hospital leaders discussed concerns about capacity with local elected officials. Capacity is impacted by both the number of available beds and the number of staff available to care for patients that fill those beds, said Steve Stites, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health System.
Health officials said they do not want to halt elective surgeries as they did in the spring, but that it was an option that could be considered should hospitalizations continue to rise.
On Monday, St. Louis city and county leaders warned that new restrictions may be necessary unless the coronavirus surge is brought under control soon.
St. Louis County Executive Sam Page and St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson said in separate updates Monday that the fast-rising numbers of cases and hospitalizations are evidence that current restrictions such as mask mandates and limits on gatherings aren’t working.
Page said more drastic measures may be announced as early as next week for St. Louis County if coronavirus numbers don’t improve.
Kansas also reported on Monday that it saw a surge of nearly 6,000 new COVID-19 cases and 15 new deaths over the weekend.
The number of Kansans infected by the coronavirus grew to a total of 103,553, up 5,920 new cases, or 6%, from Friday’s total of 97,633, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
The number of people who have died from the disease stood at 1,181 statewide as of Monday. An additional 71 people were hospitalized since Friday.
More than 10.1 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 and 238,251 people have died from the disease in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University.
