ST. LOUIS — As the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force called for state action to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, it reported more record-breaking numbers for new hospital admissions and hospitalizations Friday.
The task force reported 125 new hospital admissions Friday -- a record -- and an increase from 109 reported on Thursday. In the past, the task force had not expressed too much concern of the one-day increases, calling them blips or spikes. However, the steady increase in new admissions has resulted in an increase in the 7-day moving averages of hospital admissions and hospitalizations.
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 Nov. 13:
- New hospital admissions (data lagged two days) increased – from 109 yesterday to 125 today, a new record.
- The seven-day moving average of hospital admissions (data lagged two days) increased from 101 yesterday to 105 today, a new seven-day moving average record.
- The seven-day moving average of hospitalizations increased – from 599 yesterday to 628 today, a new seven-day moving average record.
- Inpatient confirmed COVID positive hospitalizations increased – from 681 yesterday to 719 today, a new record.
- Inpatient suspected COVID positive hospitalizations decreased – from 165 yesterday to 149 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients in the ICUs increased – from 139 yesterday to 140 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients on ventilators decreased – from 84 yesterday to 82 today.
- Across the system hospitals, 116 COVID-19 patients were discharged yesterday, bringing the cumulative number of COVID-19 patients discharged to 8,819.
The task force held a press conference Friday, calling for three statewide measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19: a mask mandate; a statewide "safer at home" policy; and a plan to help already-exhausted health care workers.
"The statewide mask mandate is needed to save lives across the state," Dr. Alex Garza, the head of the task force, said during a news conference.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported a cumulative total of 229,376 cases Friday morning and 3,359 deaths – an increase of 4,005 cases and 20 deaths since Thursday.
Friday marked the fourth day in a row the state has reported more than 4,000 new cases. Missouri reported 4,603 cases Thursday, which was a record number of new single-day COVID-19 cases.
The previous one-day high was reached on Nov. 7 when the state reported 4,559 new cases.
Watch Friday's full briefing with Dr. Garza in the video player below: