ST. LOUIS — On Sunday, the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force announced decreases in several areas they are tracking.
The most noticeable decrease was in the total number of inpatient hospitalizations. That number decreased 35, from 540 yesterday to 505 today.
Also decreasing:
- The seven-day moving average of hospital admissions (data lagged two days) decreased – from 34 yesterday to 31 today.
- The seven-day moving average of hospitalizations decreased – from 608 yesterday to 586 today.
At the same time, we saw increases in the following key areas. The number of patients in the ICUs has increased slightly – from 138 on Saturday to 140 today and the number of patients on ventilators has increased slightly from 108 yesterday to 111 today.
But, across the system hospitals, that include BJC HealthCare, Mercy, SSM Health, St. Luke’s Hospital, 15 COVID-19 patients were discharged yesterday, bringing the cumulative number of COVID-19 patients discharged to 1,663.
“We’ve significantly suppressed the spread of the virus which is critical to reopening the economy and we want to make sure we don’t go backward,” Dr. Garza said.
Even though most of the numbers are moving in the right direction, Dr. Garza stressed it is more important than ever to continue social distancing measures and good hygiene as local economies are planning to reopen.
“Whether that’s shelter in place, washing our hands, keeping surfaces clean. With the whole goal of keeping that transmission rate as low as possible because we know once we start relaxing things, it always is going to increase the rate of transmission, but if we can keep that low enough we should be able to open up different parts of the economy,” Dr. Garza explained.
He said leaders in the St. Louis city and county communities are all working together to develop the best plans for reopening the economies. He said the decisions are data-driven and with the safety of the public in mind.
“But remember, after all of the reopenings it doesn’t mean we go back to life as normal, or pre-COVID. It’s going to be a new normal,” he said.
