JEFFERSON COUNTY, Mo. — After weeks of steadily increasing COVID-19 cases, Jefferson County is nearing 'red status' again.
The 7-day rolling average of cases per 100,000 residents is 16.19. The county's positivity rate is at 7.66%. On Feb. 28, the county reported a positivity rate of 4.1% — the lowest level since June 2020. However, over the last four weeks, the positivity rate has steadily increased.
"We experienced an increase in weekly cases once again," the health department said in a press release Wednesday. "This increase has not pushed us into red status; however, we are classified as light red according to the White House Metric ‘new cases per 100k per week’ after 5 weeks being classified as orange in this category. Nationally, overall cases are up about 10% over the last 7 days as well."
Just last week, the Jefferson County Health Department's Board of Trustees voted to allow the county's mask mandate to expire. It had been in place since November 2020.
On March 9, the county returned to yellow status after 34 weeks in the red and orange status. The county moved back to orange status last week, just before the mask mandate was allowed to expire.
The health department reports about 19,000 residents, or 8.45%, of residents have been fully vaccinated as of March 25, the most recent update available to the county. The statewide average on March 25, according to CDC data, was 12.9%.
The county is preparing to offer COVID-19 vaccines to more residents. Starting April 1, a mass vaccination site will open inside a vacant grocery store building with more than 21,200 doses scheduled to be administered during clinics.
Those who are interested in receiving the vaccine should register through the department's website. Anyone without internet access can call the county's COVID-19 Vaccine Registration Line at 636-789-8941.