ST. LOUIS — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported more than 1,000 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases Thursday as the state's hospitalizations surpassed 1,000 again.
On Thursday, the department reported 118,311 COVID-19 cases and 1,952 deaths, an increase of 1,365 cases and five deaths.
Thursday's increase in cases was 215 fewer than Wednesday and 382 fewer than last Thursday. The department has reported at least 1,000 new cases every day since Sept. 9.
After two days of record or near-record increases in newly reported deaths, the state reported five on Thursday. The increases of newly reported deaths on Tuesday and Wednesday included deaths that occurred as far back as July, with most of them occurring in August, according to the health department.
On Thursday, the department reported 1,259,531 PCR tests, an increase of 14,968 in the last 24 hours. According to the health department dashboard, the positivity rate in the last seven days was 11.7%.
After two days of fewer than 1,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state, the department reported more than 1,000 hospitalizations again Thursday. On Thursday, the state reported 1,056 hospitalizations, up from 989 Wednesday. It is the fifth time in the last seven days that the state has reported more than 1,000 hospitalizations.
Hospitalization data is delayed 72 hours to ensure accuracy, so the number reported Thursday represents the number of hospitalizations on Sept. 21.
In the St. Lous area, new COVID-19 hospitalizations increased the last two days, but the seven-day average remained mostly unchanged.
The numbers from the task force on Thursday are as follows:
- New hospital admissions (data lagged two days) increased from 38* yesterday to 40 today.
- The seven-day moving average of hospital admissions (data lagged two days) remained the same at 33* today.
- The seven-day moving average of hospitalizations increased – from 264 yesterday to 266 today.
- Inpatient confirmed COVID positive hospitalizations decreased – from 278 yesterday to 270 today.
- Inpatient suspected COVID positive hospitalizations increased - from 110 yesterday to 145 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients in the ICUs increased – from 72 yesterday to 77 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients on ventilators remained the same at 47 today.
- Across the system hospitals, 48 COVID-19 patients were discharged yesterday, bringing the cumulative number of COVID-19 patients discharged to 6,065.
*Wednesday’s hospital admission data changed from 33 to 38 and did increase the seven-day moving average from 32 to 33. We apologize for any issues this may cause.
In St. Louis County, there were 130 new COVID-19 cases and seven new deaths Thursday, bringing the totals in the county to 23,427 cases and 795 deaths.
In St. Louis, there were 32 newly reported COVID-19 cases and no new deaths Thursday, bringing the totals in the city to 6,865 cases 207 deaths.
In St. Charles County, there were 69 new COVID-19 cases and no new deaths Thursday, bringing the totals in the county to 7,563 cases and 128 deaths.
The Jefferson County Health Department reported 4,232 confirmed or positive COVID-19 cases Thursday, a single-day increase of 60. The department said 3,917 of the cases were confirmed and 315 were probable. The county also reported a total of 60 COVID-19 deaths, the same as Wednesday.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 4,054 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Jefferson County.
The graph below uses the confirmed and suspected cases from the Jefferson County health department.
