Missouri hospitals see glimmer of hope in COVID-19 stats

Kansas City metro area health officials are grappling with how to handle continuing case count increases after reopening businesses more than four months ago. What you need to know:The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said Monday the state has 216,062 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and there have been 2,548 deaths since the outbreak started. Kansas is now only updating COVID-19 data on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said Tuesday there have been 386,095 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the outbreak and 5,433 deaths.WEDNESDAY8:30 a.m. – The City of Kansas City passed along condolences to Councilwoman Andrea Bough and her family as they mourn the loss of a loved one due to COVID-19. Bough said on Twitter that her mother passed away from COVID-19.8 a.m. — Dr. Dana Hawkinson with the University of Kansas Health System said they continue to be encouraged by the case numbers in the system. Hawkinson said the system has 56 acute cases of COVID-19 in the hospital, 27 people in the ICU. Those numbers are down from the 80s over the past few weeks. Hawkinson said 71 people are in the post 10-day period recovery period and 10 of those are on vents.7:30 a.m. — Missouri hospitals are beginning to see a glimmer of hope as new cases of COVID-19 decline but the possibility of a post-holiday surge is keeping them on edge.State health officials reported that the rolling seven-day average of cases was 1,816, down from a peak of 4,723 on Nov. 20. Dr. Alex Garza, who leads the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force, described the situation as “encouraging” in a media briefing Monday, although his enthusiasm was tempered.“We have a lot of patients in the hospitals right now, so any bump-up that we have from a holiday surge could put us right back into those areas where we don’t want to be, where we are stretching our staff way too thin,” he said, adding, “The fact is that COVID is not going to go away over the holidays. It won’t leave when 2020 leaves either.”On Tuesday alone, the state added 2,479 more coronavirus cases and 117 more deaths, bringing Missouri’s totals since the pandemic began to 383,616 confirmed cases and 5,316 deaths. State health officials said that 97 of the deaths were added as the result of a review of death certificates, with 32 of them dating back to November.7 a.m. — The state of Kansas isn’t officially listing the number of people who have recovered from COVID-19, but local health departments across the state are keeping track. According to numbers from Tuesday morning, there have been 145,059 people who have recovered from the coronavirus. This includes 25,245 in Johnson County, 9,409 in Wyandotte County, 4,367 in Leavenworth County, 5,626 in Douglas County and 1,049 in Miami County.[ COVID-19 IN KC: TRACKING CASES, DEATHS AND LATEST RESTRICTIONS ][ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ABOUT THE COVID-19 VACCINE ] TUESDAY4:25 p.m. — The first reported U.S. case of the COVID-19 variant that’s been seen in the United Kingdom has been discovered in Colorado. Gov. Jared Polis and state health officials announced Tuesday that the case was found in a man in his 20s who’s in isolation and has no travel history. British scientists believe the new virus variant is more contagious than previously identified strains. Colorado health officials say the vaccines being given now are thought to be effective against this variant. 10:45 a.m. — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 2,479 new confirmed cases on Tuesday, bringing the state’s total to 386,095 since the pandemic began.There have now been 5,433 deaths linked to COVID-19 in Missouri, which is up 117 from Monday’s reporting. However, the MDHSS said the spike can be attributed to further examination of death certificates.There have been 57 deaths reported in the last seven days.[ MISSOURI COVID-19 DASHBOARD]Missouri does not list how many people have recovered from COVID-19.The state said it has tested a total of 3,599,869, and 85,426 were tested in the past seven days. There have been 13,368 positive cases and an average of 1,910 cases a day in the last week.Looking at local numbers, the DHSS reported 29,643 (+189) confirmed cases in Kansas City, Missouri, and 23,016 (+174) cases in Jackson County. The state also lists 6,147 (+44) cases in Clay County, 5,443 (+72) in Cass County and 2,302 (+22) in Platte County.8 a.m. — The University of Kansas Health System had some “positive numbers” to report again on Tuesday. Dr. Dana Hawkinson said the system has 58 acute cases of COVID-19 in the hospital, 26 people in the ICU and 20 people on ventilators. Those numbers are down from the 80s over the past few weeks. Hawkinson said 68 people are in the post 10-day period recovery period.7:30 a.m. — Residents and staff of long-term care facilities in Missouri began receiving the vaccine for COVID-19 on Monday, as the state moves into the second phase of inoculations.Phillip Moore, a 100-year-old Army Air Corps veteran, was first in line to get the vaccine at the Cottages of Lake St. Louis Retirement Center, KSDK-TV reported. He said he had already contracted COVID-19, which robbed him of his ability to get around on his own. “I could get around. I could talk better, take care of myself,” Moore said Monday from his wheelchair. “All of that was taken from me.”Moore was among several residents and employees who got the first of two shots Monday. The next round will come Jan. 25.The U.S. Department of Health and Senior Services previously announced it had selected CVS Health and Walgreens to administer the vaccinations at skilled nursing and assisted living facilities. Also Monday, the Missouri Department of Labor said it is awaiting guidance from federal authorities on implementing new legislation signed by President Donald Trump that extended unemployment benefits.The president on Sunday signed a $900 billion coronavirus relief bill that extends unemployment assistance programs through March 14. It also provides an extra $300 per week for those who are unemployed because of the coronavirus pandemic.State labor officials said Monday on the agency’s Twitter account that they are required to wait for federal information on how to implement the legislation. The department encouraged unemployed Missourians to continue to file weekly claims.State health officials Monday confirmed 1,522 more coronavirus cases and four more deaths, bringing Missouri’s totals since the pandemic began to 383,616 confirmed cases and 5,316 deaths.However, the state’s rolling seven day average of cases was 1,816, a drop from 2,415 on Sunday. The state’s seven-day average peaked at 4,723 on Nov. 20 and has been declining since then.The state also reported 2,429 people hospitalized with COVID-19, a decline from the 2,696 people hospitalized on Sunday.7 a.m. — The state of Kansas isn’t officially listing the number of people who have recovered from COVID-19, but local health departments across the state are keeping track. According to numbers from Monday morning, there have been 142,613 people who have recovered from the coronavirus. This includes 25,024 in Johnson County, 9,409 in Wyandotte County, 4,367 in Leavenworth County, 4,385 in Douglas County and 1,049 in Miami County.[ COVID-19 IN KC: TRACKING CASES, DEATHS AND LATEST RESTRICTIONS ][ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ABOUT THE COVID-19 VACCINE ] MONDAY6:50 p.m. — A thin copper sticker is Matt Robb’s idea. The antimicrobial surface can be placed on high-touch areas, such as pens or door handles, quickly killing bacteria and viruses. The goal is to reduce the spread of COVID-19.”I think this is something we could all benefit from as a community,” Robb said. READ MORE.6:30 p.m. — Northland Festivals, Inc. announced Monday a “Spooky Snake Saturday” as its solution to COVID restrictions for the 2021 parade and festival. What will mark the 37th Annual Snake Saturday Parade and Festival has been postponed until Oct. 23, 2021. This decision was almost as difficult as the decision to cancel the parade in 2020. The Northland Festivals board along with the City of North Kansas City and North Kansas City Hospital came to the decision to postpone the parade after considering the resurgence of COVID 19 and factoring the safety and wellbeing of parade spectators, participants and staff.2 p.m. — The Kansas City VA Medical Center said it continues to work on vaccinating local veterans after it received an initial shipment of 1,700 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine last week.The KCVA Medical Center said it is using an automated calling system to schedule veteran vaccinations.“The initial distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine was limited and is being used to vaccinate our front-line health care workers and those veterans over the age of 85 with the highest risk of getting or spreading the coronavirus or becoming severely ill from COVID-19,” the medical center said in a statement. “Veterans receiving the initial shipment vaccinations have certain health issues, like those receiving chemotherapy, dialysis, or organ transplant patients, which elevates them to the highest risk category.“Vaccinating our VA staff helps us continue to provide care for veterans. Over time, as more vaccine doses become available, we will expand the COVID-19 vaccine to more veterans based on the VA’s priority groups, which are based on CDC guidelines. If you have not received an automated call asking you ‘If you would like to receive the COVID-19 vaccine,’ please be patient. We will be receiving more vaccine supply in the coming weeks and months.”12:45 p.m. — Gov. Laura Kelly plans to get a COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday as part of a larger plan to give shots to selected Kansas officials so that state government can continue to operate during the pandemic. READ MORE12:30 p.m. — The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported an increase of 6,373 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in its first update since last Wednesday, pushing the statewide total to 216,062 since the outbreak started.KDHE officials said Monday the death total grew by 41 to 2,548 and hospitalizations increased by 133 to 6,568 since the outbreak started.Health officials said Monday that 36% (+3) of ICU beds are available and 74% (-2) of the state’s ventilators are available.The state said it has tested 985,813 people with 769,751 negative test results and an overall monthly positive test rate of 12.9%.[ KANSAS COVID-19 COVID-19 DASHBOARD ]Sedgwick County has moved back ahead of Johnson County for the highest confirmed cases since the start of the outbreak with 38,023. Johnson County is second with 37,875 cases. Wyandotte County is third with 15,206 cases. Leavenworth County has 4,939 cases, Douglas County reports 6,041 and Miami County has 1,725. Health officials said the median age of people with COVID-19 is 39, and they are monitoring 429 active outbreak clusters with 215 clusters reported in long-term care facilities.11:52 a.m. — The Missouri Department of Labor said Monday it is awaiting guidance from federal authorities on implementing new legislation signed by President Donald Trump that extended unemployment benefits.The president on Sunday signed a $900 billion coronavirus relief bill that extends unemployment assistance programs through March 14. It also provides an extra $300 per week for those who are unemployed because of the coronavirus pandemic.State labor officials said on the agency’s Twitter account Monday they are required to wait for federal information on how to implement the legislation. The department encouraged unemployed Missourians to continue to file weekly claims.State health officials on Monday confirmed 1,522 more coronavirus cases and four more deaths, bringing the Missouri’s totals since the pandemic began to 383,616 confirmed cases and 5,316 deaths.However, the state’s rolling seven day average of cases was 1,816, a drop from 2,415 on Sunday. The state’s seven-day average peaked at 4,723 on Nov. 20 and has been declining since then.The state also reported 2,429 people hospitalized with COVID-19, a decline from the 2,696 people hospitalized on Sunday.10:45 a.m. — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 1,522 new confirmed cases on Monday, bringing the state’s total to 383,616 since the pandemic began.There have now been 5,316 deaths linked to COVID-19 in Missouri, which is up four from Sunday’s reporting. There have been 59 deaths reported in the last seven days.[ MISSOURI COVID-19 DASHBOARD]Missouri does not list how many people have recovered from COVID-19.The state said it has tested a total of 3,583,616, and 81,566 were tested in the past seven days. There have been 12,709 positive cases and an average of 1,816 cases a day in the last week.Looking at local numbers, the DHSS reported 29,454 (+135) confirmed cases in Kansas City, Missouri, and 22,842 (+107) cases in Jackson County. The state also lists 6,103 (+33) cases in Clay County, 5,371 (+24) in Cass County and 2,302 (+13) in Platte County.8 a.m. — The University of Kansas Health System had some positive numbers to report on Monday. Dr. Dana Hawkinson said the system has 56 acute cases of COVID-19 in the hospital, 24 people in the ICU and 18 people on ventilators. Those numbers are down from the 80s over the past few weeks. Hawkinson said 61 people are in the post 10-day period recovery period with seven of those people still on a vent.7:15 a.m. — Last week, CVS Health and Walgreens began vaccinating residents at long-term care facilities in 12 states across the country, and on Monday those vaccinations start in Kansas and Missouri. According to CVS, almost 1,000 facilities have signed up for vaccinations in Kansas and Missouri. READ MORE7 a.m. — The state of Kansas isn’t officially listing the number of people who have recovered from COVID-19, but local health departments across the state are keeping track. According to numbers from Monday morning, there have been 140,853 people who have recovered from the coronavirus. This includes 24,806 in Johnson County, 9,409 in Wyandotte County, 4,117 in Leavenworth County, 4,385 in Douglas County and 1,049 in Miami County.[ COVID-19 IN KC: TRACKING CASES, DEATHS AND LATEST RESTRICTIONS ][ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ABOUT THE COVID-19 VACCINE ] SUNDAY4 p.m. — The Music City Bowl between Missouri and Iowa was canceled Sunday because COVID-19 issues left the Tigers unable to play.The Nashville, Tennessee-based game scheduled for Wednesday is the second bowl called off since the postseason lineup was set on Dec. 20, joining the Gasparilla Bowl.Missouri athletic director Jim Sterk said in a statement the football team had a “significant increase in positive COVID-19 tests among our student-athletes, coaches and staff” since the end of the regular season. READ MORE11 a.m. — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 1,451 new confirmed cases on Sunday, bringing the state’s total to 382,094 since the pandemic began.There have now been 5,312 deaths linked to COVID-19 in Missouri, which is up four from Saturday’s reporting. There have been 59 deaths reported in the last seven days.[ MISSOURI COVID-19 DASHBOARD]Missouri does not list how many people have recovered from COVID-19.The state said it has tested a total of 3,576,638, and 94,181 were tested in the past seven days. There have been 14,251 positive cases and an average of 2,036 cases a day in the last week.Looking at local numbers, the DHSS reported 29,319 confirmed cases in Kansas City, Missouri, and 22,735 cases in Jackson County. The state also lists 6,070 cases in Clay County, 5,371 in Cass County and 2,289 in Platte County.6 a.m. –Missouri set a new record for patients hospitalized with COVID-19 on Christmas Day as the pandemic surges. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that there were 2,862 patients hospitalized statewide, eclipsing the previous record of 2,851 on Nov. 18. Hospitalizations have remained high in the past month.Meanwhile, the seven-day average for new cases is 2,213 each day, according to data posted Saturday on the state health department website.With the virus present at such elevated levels, county officials are urging caution.“It is here, it is spread in the community, and we’ve got to make sure that that spread slows,” said St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern. “Our fates are in our own hands, and really, it’s not difficult to wear that mask.”[ COVID-19 IN KC: TRACKING CASES, DEATHS AND LATEST RESTRICTIONS ][ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ABOUT THE COVID-19 VACCINE ] SATURDAYNoon — One northeast Kansas county is moving jury trials to a building on its fairgrounds to allow for better social distancing amid the pandemic. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the plan is for jury trials in Douglas County to resume Jan. 11 at the Flory Meeting Hall. Chief Judge James McCabria said the jury selection room can safely seat up to 30 people at a time in addition to the judge, parties and court staff. Trials that need bigger jury pools will bring in panels at staged intervals.Because court proceedings will be livestreamed on YouTube for public access for the time being, prospective jurors will not be addressed by name, but by number. Trials will be held on the other side of the collapsible wall that divides the meeting hall in half. The space is big enough that the 14 chairs of the jury box can be distanced from one another. Witnesses who testify will wear plastic face shields instead of masks so that jurors can see their faces, but so that there will still be protection from respiratory droplets. “We believe anyone who participates in the process should feel safe with the distancing and other protocols that are in place,” said George Diepenbrock, a spokesperson for Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health.[ COVID-19 IN KC: TRACKING CASES, DEATHS AND LATEST RESTRICTIONS ][ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ABOUT THE COVID-19 VACCINE ] FRIDAY7 a.m. — Two eastern Missouri restaurants have filed a lawsuit challenging an emergency order that closes bars and restaurants at 11 p.m. to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Tony’s on Main in St. Charles and Shamrock’s Pub and Grill in St. Peters argued in court Wednesday that officials failed to act for months to stop the virus before issuing the “bizarre and non-sensical” emergency order on Nov. 24. The suit names St. Charles, St. Charles County and others. St. Charles County Circuit Judge Ted House rejected the restaurants’ request for a temporary restraining order, saying they did not show enough evidence of “irreparable harm.” But he said they have a compelling case to recoup damages.Dining restrictions started months ago across the region, with St. Louis city bars and restaurants subjected to a similar curfew. St. Louis County banned indoor service in mid-November but is considering whether to allow it to resume, with restrictions, in January.St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann said the bar curfew is intended to keep people “from flocking to St. Charles County after they are barred from other areas.”But the suit argues that other St. Charles County businesses, such as diners, restaurants without liquor licenses and the Ameristar Casino, aren’t subjected to the curfew, and that there is no scientific basis for the order.“We just want a level playing field,” said the restaurants’ attorney, Daniel Goldberg.Statewide, 17,470 new confirmed coronavirus cases have been reported in the past week, according to state health department data. That’s an average of about 2,496 new cases a day. Dr. Alex Garza, who leads the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force, said Wednesday that the numbers of coronavirus patients in the St. Louis region are dangerously high, and by all measures hospitals are facing an “extremely risky situation.”The task force reported 871 COVID-19 patients in area hospitals, 182 in intensive care units, and 114 on ventilators. The hospitals also reported 31 patient deaths due to the virus, the highest number since the task force began tracking it in early October.“The amount of virus spreading in our community is still putting us all at risk,” Garza said. “We are still at the height of the pandemic.”6 a.m. — Kansas is working through the details of exactly who will be eligible for coronavirus vaccines in exactly what order as it concentrates on giving shots mostly to health care workers this month.Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly told leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature this week that the vaccines have gone mostly to health care workers, though that group also includes employees in state prisons. She said vaccines could go “almost exclusively” to health care workers into mid-January but also suggested some doses already have reached nursing homes.Kelly told The Topeka Capital-Journal in an interview that prison inmates are to get vaccinated before the general public because they’re in “congregate” housing, but the state doesn’t expect vaccines to be available for some adults for at least several months.The state’s vaccine plan made health care workers and nursing home workers and residents the the first in line, followed by other “essential” workers and people 75 or older, particularly those at high risk of coronavirus complications. But Kelly said in an Associated Press interview that the state is considering vaccinations for some officials to preserve “continuity of operations.”“We expect that sometime right after the first of the year, we will have a more definitive list of who will be vaccinated when,” Kelly told legislative leaders during a meeting Wednesday.Kansas has reported nearly 210,000 confirmed and probable coronavirus cases since the pandemic began in early March through Wednesday, or one for every 14 of its 2.9 million residents. It has reported more than 2,500 deaths, or one for every 1,162 residents. Kelly’s staff has repeatedly said that she will get vaccinated — in public — when it’s “her turn.” However her husband, a retired pulmonologist and sleep disorder specialist, is working part-time in a clinic screening patients for COVID-19 and other diseases before surgeries and was vaccinated Tuesday.And the governor said the state is looking at how quickly some key officials in state agencies, the courts and the Legislature should get vaccinated.“We’re looking at that right now, determining who ought to be vaccinated soon,” Kelly told The Associated Press. “We’ll make that decision pretty quickly.”The state prison system — housing about 8,600 inmates — has reported nearly 5,200 cases among offenders and another 944 cases among staff. Four workers and a dozen inmates have died.The latest staff death was reported Wednesday by the El Dorado Correctional Facility. The prison about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Wichita described Gabe Morales as a “wonderful asset.”Morales began his career in the state prison system at the Winfield Correctional Facility in May 2014 and moved to the El Dorado prison in July 2015. Part of Morales’s job was to prepare inmates for life after their sentences ended.He told KAKE-TV for a story last year that, “It’s not about the person they are when they came in, you really want to affect them, so they’re a better person when they go out.”Prison staff members who worked in units for inmates with COVID-19 began receiving vaccines last week. The state’s vaccination plan calls for giving shots to “critical” populations after essential workers and at-risk older Kansans but does not specifically spell out whether prison inmates are in that group. Kelly said inmates will get shots when the state gives them to people in “congregate” living such as state hospitals.That’s likely to spark some political backlash.“There is no reason prisoners should ever get this vaccine before law abiding Kansans,” The Kansas Republican Party tweeted.But Kelly told The Capital-Journal: “There are all sorts of other people who were not convicted of a crime who work in those facilities, and vaccinations protect them, too.”Meanwhile, the state Department of Health and Environment reported that as of Wednesday, nursing homes had seen 530 clusters of two more cases, accounting for nearly 10,500 cases and almost 1,100 COVID-19 deaths — almost 44% of all the state’s coronavirus deaths. The department listed 51 active clusters of five or more cases in nursing homes, accounting for nearly 600 cases in all.Vaccines for nursing home workers and residents are to be given on site, mostly through pharmacy giants CVS and Walgreens. Both have indicated that shots could start in Kansas next week.Kelly has been “outspoken” in making sure frail, elderly Kansans are near the top of the list for the vaccine, said Linda MowBray, president and CEO of the Kansas Health Care Association, which represents about 260 long-term care facilities. But she said had hoped the vaccines would come sooner to the homes.“When somebody says you’re tier one, priority one, right up there with everybody else, or the health care workers, it’s a little bit disheartening that it’s not really first of the first,” she said.[ COVID-19 IN KC: TRACKING CASES, DEATHS AND LATEST RESTRICTIONS ][ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ABOUT THE COVID-19 VACCINE ] The Associated Press contributed to this story.