ST. LOUIS — COVID-19 hospitalization numbers improved again Saturday as positivity rates in both Missouri and Illinois continued to increase.
On Saturday, the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force reported the fifth consecutive day of falling COVID-19 hospitalizations. The task force also reported 68 new hospital admissions, the lowest in a single day since Nov. 2.
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 January 2.
- New hospital admissions (data lagged two days) decreased from 103 yesterday to 68 today.
- The seven-day moving average of hospital admissions (data lagged two days) decreased – from 98 yesterday to 94 today.
- The seven-day moving average of hospitalizations decreased - from 817 yesterday to 809 today.
- Inpatient confirmed COVID positive hospitalizations decreased – from 759 yesterday to 755 today.
- Inpatient suspected COVID positive hospitalizations decreased – from 46 yesterday to 42 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients in the ICUs decreased – from 185 yesterday to 176 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients on ventilators decreased – from 112 yesterday to 106 today.
- The number of COVID deaths increased – from 13 yesterday to 16 today.
- The seven-day moving average of COVID deaths remained the same at 16.
- Across the system hospitals, 87 COVID-19 patients were discharged to home yesterday, bringing the cumulative number of COVID-19 patients discharged to 14,822.
- Today, staffed bed hospital capacity is at 79%, 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 399,456 cases and 5543 deaths as of Saturday, a single-day increase of 2,157 cases and 3 deaths.
The department also reported 3,679,665 PCR tests, an increase of 13,685 in the last 24 hours.
According to the health department's dashboard, the state's 7-day positivity rate increased to 19.2% on Saturday. The positivity average is delayed by 72 hours, so the number reported Saturday represents the average for Dec. 30. The last time the state's 7-day positivity rate was that high was Dec. 6.
In Illinois, the state's health department reported 975,352 cases and 16,674 deaths as of Saturday, a single-day increase of 4,762 cases and 27 deaths.
The department also reported 13,436,652 tests, an increase of 61,987 in the last 24 hours.
The state's 7-day positivity rate increased from 8.1% to 8.3%.
The 7-day positivity rate in the Metro East increased from 12.7% to 12.8% Saturday.
