ST. LOUIS — With a record number of new cases reported in both Missouri and Illinois, the St. Louis area is being hit harder than at any other point in the pandemic, the commander of the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force said Friday.
"Just about any way you look at this, COVID is hitting us harder now more than ever," Dr. Alex Garza said. "More people are sick, more people are going to the hospital and hospitals are at or near their capacity to care for patients in our region. And not just COVID patients, but all patients."
On Friday, the task force reported 97 new COVID-19 admissions, breaking a single-day record that was set on Thursday. In the last two days, task force hospitals have reported 191 new admissions.
The number of COVID-19 patients increased to 522 Friday, the highest in the region since April 28. Because of the increase in COVID-19 patients, Dr. Garza said hospitals and ICU departments in the area are at or near their capacity.
Dr. Garza said transmission is now being driven in large part by informal gatherings.
"People can be very good about wearing a mask when out in public, but it does us no good if you take that mask off and invite 10 friends over," he said.
Dr. Garza said the COVID-19 patients ending up in the hospital are coming from all over the area, not just in rural or urban areas.
He said getting the virus under control comes down to deciding what is most important for our society.
"We have a decision to make: what are the things we value in our society?" Dr. Garza said. "If we value our kids going back to school, if we value our businesses remaining open, there's a way to do that. It's to follow the rules, all of them and not just when it's convenient."
The simplest advice Dr. Garza provided was this: "You have to act like the virus is around you all the time."
"I know that's hard," he said, "but that's the only way we can get through this. Wear a mask, practice social distancing, six-feet away from others, use hand sanitizer, clean surfaces and help one another."
Dr. Garza said there is so much virus in the community that it is "beyond frightening" and said things are on pace to get much worse. BJC has already started limiting elective procedures, and Dr. Garza said he expects other hospital systems to follow suit.
RELATED: Some St. Louis area hospitals to reschedule elective surgeries due to rise in COVID-19 cases
The full numbers report from the task force is as follows:
- New hospital admissions (data lagged two days) increased – from 94 yesterday to 97 today.
- The seven-day moving average of hospital admissions (data lagged two days) increased from 69 yesterday to 73 today.
- The seven-day moving average of hospitalizations increased – from 445 yesterday to 460 today.
- Inpatient confirmed COVID positive hospitalizations increased – from 487 yesterday to 522 today.
- Inpatient suspected COVID positive hospitalizations increased – from 123 yesterday to 129 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients in the ICUs increased – from 111 yesterday to 115 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients on ventilators decreased – from 63 yesterday to 61 today.
- Across the system hospitals, 90 COVID-19 patients were discharged yesterday, bringing the cumulative number of COVID-19 patients discharged to 8,175.
- The total bed capacity based on the number of available staffed beds across our health care systems remained the same at 90%* today.
- The total ICU bed capacity based on the number of available staffed beds across our health care systems increased – from 84%* yesterday to 91% today.
On Friday, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported 10,376 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases, a single-day record.
The department said it will be following CDC guidance in reporting suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases as a combined number. Because of this, the number of cases reported by the department Tuesday was 465,540. That number included 7,673 probable cases the department was previously aware of and 10,376 confirmed cases.
The department also reported 49 new deaths and 98,401 new tests Friday, bringing the totals in the state to 10,079 deaths and 8,215,129. Probable deaths are being reported separately by the health department.
In Missouri, the department reported a total of 200,507 cases and 3,131 deaths as of Friday, a single-day increase of 3,931 new cases and 25 deaths. The increase in new cases was a single-day record.
According to the state's dashboard, the state's seven-day positivity average is 16.0, the highest of the pandemic.
The dashboard said cases have increased by 23.6% over the last seven days when compared to the previous seven days. In that same time period, testing has decreased by 4.5%.
