Here’s what we know about the COVID-19 surge in Missouri: variants, hospitals and more

The coronavirus is once again surging in Missouri, due in part to the spread of the delta variant and hesitancy of many to get vaccinated.

Here’s what we know about this new wave of COVID-19:

Delta variant in southwest Missouri

The city of Springfield has reached a record number of coronavirus patients in critical care and on ventilators, officials wrote late Monday.

Springfield, in southwest Missouri, has been a recent focal point for what can happen when the highly contagious delta variant spreads through an area where the majority of the population is unvaccinated.

As of Tuesday, 42.5% of the adult population of Greene County, where Springfield is located, had been fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nationwide, nearly 59% of the adult population has been fully vaccinated.

As of Tuesday, Missouri had the fourth-highest rate of new cases per capita, according to data compiled by The New York Times, and among the lowest adult vaccination rates among all states.

Kansas City area vaccination rates

Some counties in the Kansas City metro area have even lower COVID-19 vaccination rates than the Springfield area.

Kansas City, as of Tuesday, has the sixth highest vaccination rate in the state at 43.8% which is followed by Jackson County at 41.9%.

But surrounding areas in the metro are far lower: Platte County sits at 30.6% while Clay County is at 35.3% and Cass County is at 35.7%.

Health care experts in southwest Missouri have issued warnings about the delta variant while pleading for people to get immunized.

What’s Missouri government doing about it?

As Springfield hospitals treat a growing wave of COVID-19 patients, Gov. Mike Parson on Tuesday implicitly attacked one of the city’s major hospital operators for announcing that it will require its employees to be vaccinated.

The Republican governor said COVID messaging coming from southwest Missouri amounted to a blame game. He warned health officials against scaring residents into getting vaccinated.

Parson said last week that Missouri’s health care system remains stable. Asked on Tuesday about the basis for his statement, given the problems in Springfield, the governor said officials examine data every day and are in discussions with the Missouri Hospital Association.

Parson hasn’t used the same alarmed language of senior officials elsewhere to prompt residents to get shots. Instead, he has highlighted data points such as the higher rates of vaccination among seniors. His agitated response to the arrival of federal assistance that his administration requested provoked a rebuke from the White House. This past week, he stressed the state “is not in crisis mode.”

Kansas City metro hospital capacity

Health care officials in the Kansas City region are bracing themselves for another wave of COVID-19 infections as the delta variant spreads and vaccine rates stagnate.

Steve Hoeger, Missouri co-chair of the Mid-America Regional Council Health Care Coalition, is part of a team that monitors data from across the metro hospitals, tracking trends, resources and capacities.

He said though the metro area is still well below the peak cases seen during the worst of the pandemic, the past month has seen a steady upward trend In COVID patients across the region’s hospitals.

Unlike last year, he said, beds are already filled as hospitals see an influx of trauma patients (including victims or violence and vehicular accidents) as well as patients who got sick after delaying routine healthcare over the past year because of the pandemic.

Should you be wearing your mask?

The WHO has urged governments not to lift pandemic restrictions too quickly — including saying everyone, even the vaccinated, should continue to wear masks given that the delta variant spreads more easily and no vaccine is 100% effective.

In the U.S., the CDC maintains it still is safe for the fully vaccinated to go without a mask. But there’s no way to know if maskless people really are vaccinated and local governments can set tighter guidelines. With the delta variant spreading locally, health officials in Los Angeles County said they still recommend masks indoors in public places for everyone.

Missouri added to Chicago travel advisory list

The Chicago Department of Public Health added Missouri to its Travel Advisory list Tuesday “amid an increase in COVID-19 cases in some regions of the country,” after several weeks with no states on the list.

In a statement the department said the change came as Missouri passed the mark of 15 cases per day, per 100,000 residents as of July 12. People traveling from those states are advised to get a negative COVID-19 test no more than 72 hours before arrival, or quarantine for 10 days upon arrival, the travel advisory states.

What questions do you have as COVID variants spread in Missouri?

Our neighbors in southwest Missouri are battling the new COVID-19 delta variant at an exorbitant rate — a hospital ran out of ventilators, cases and deaths are on the rise.

We think it’s important to get you the information you need to live safe, healthy lives. When the pandemic first hit Missouri last spring, we answered your questions about masks, stay-at-home orders, stimulus checks and more.

With a new wave of coronavirus concerns, we want to extend the same service. We might not know all the answers — but we’ll do the lifting to find as many as we can.

Ask us your most pressing questions about the variant, how to stay safe or what you don’t understand — ask in the module below or email Savanna Smith at sasmith@kcstar.com.