First Missouri Covid-19 death reported in Columbia; patient in 60s traveled overseas
The first person in Missouri to die from Covid-19 was reported Wednesday afternoon — a patient in their 60s who recently traveled overseas.
Columbia Mayor Brian Treece and Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced the death outside the governor’s Capitol office.
“We are in this together,” Treece said, “and we’ll get through this together.”
The positive Covid-19 diagnosis was reported Tuesday by the Columbia-Boone County Department of Public Health and Senior Services was notified.
Wednesday morning the patient’s family called 911 to report a medical emergency, Treece said. Emergency responders, operating under the pandemic disease operations plan, were wearing protective equipment when they made contact with the patient.
The patient was transported to University of Missouri-Columbia hospital. The six first responders are being quarantined.
Dr. Stevan Whitt, chief clinical officer at MU Healthcare, said the patient died this morning.
“Our systems worked well, our teams were prepared. There was no panic,” he said. “Unfortunately , we had a bad outcome, which raises anxiety. Which gives me the opportunity to tell our audience -- This is serious.”
This story was originally published March 18, 2020 at 4:06 PM.
