ST. LOUIS — Positivity rates in Missouri and Illinois are improving as hospitalizations continue to fall in the St. Louis area.
On Thursday, the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force reported 313 patients with confirmed COVID-19 cases in task force hospitals, the lowest number since Oct. 16. The seven-day average of 331 was the lowest since Oct. 21.
Admissions have continued to trend down as well this week. The seven-day average on Thursday was 42, the lowest since Oct. 13. The task force has said they consider more than 40 admissions per day to be a cause for concern.
The following data are the combined figures from the four major health systems (BJC HealthCare, Mercy, SSM Health, St. Luke’s Hospital) that are part of the task force, for Feb. 18.
- New hospital admissions (data lagged two days) decreased – from 47 yesterday to 39 today.
- The seven-day moving average of hospital admissions (data lagged two days) remained the same at 42 today.
- The seven-day moving average of hospitalizations decreased - from 339 yesterday to 331 today.
- Inpatient confirmed COVID positive hospitalizations decreased – from 318 yesterday to 313 today.
- Inpatient suspected COVID positive hospitalizations decreased – from 37 yesterday to 29 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients in the ICUs increased – from 75 yesterday to 77 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients on ventilators increased – from 53 yesterday to 56 today.
- The number of COVID deaths remained the same at 7 today.
- The seven-day moving average of COVID remained the same at 7 today.
- Across the system hospitals, 55 COVID-19 patients were discharged to home yesterday, bringing the cumulative number of COVID-19 patients discharged to 18,921.
- Today, staffed bed hospital capacity is at 80%, an average across our task force hospitals. The ICU’s are at 83% of their total staffed bed capacity.
In Missouri, the state's health department reported 473,459 cases and 7,695 deaths, a single-day increase of 718 cases and 225 deaths.
Of the 225 new deaths reported Thursday, 218 of them were discovered in an audit of death certificate data. The 218 deaths happened in:
- July: 1
- August: 1
- October: 1
- November: 6
- December: 51
- January: 126
- February: 32
The department also reported 4,359,840 PCR tests as of Thursday, a single-day increase of 9,448. According to the state's dashboard, the state's positivity rate was 7.0%. The positivity rate increased slightly Thursday but is down significantly from the high point of 23.8% in November.
The state's vaccination effort has continued, with 939,810 doses administered. According to the state's vaccine dashboard, 10.9% of people have received at least one dose — up from 10.6% yesterday — and 4.5% have received both doses — up from 4.2% yesterday.
In Illinois, the state's health department reported 1,168,683 cases and 20,129 deaths Thursday, an increase of 1,966 cases and 72 deaths.
The state also reported 17,388,356 tests, a single-day increase of 67,542.
The state's seven-day positivity rate of 2.7% is the lowest since July 9.
According to the state's vaccine dashboard, 1,977,033 doses have been administered at the time, a single-day increase of 73,091. According to the state's data, 11.81% of people have at least one dose — up from 11.44% Wednesday — and 3.71% of people have both doses — up from 3.5% Wednesday.
