ST. LOUIS — The leader of the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force said Wednesday that hospital admissions in the area are climbing at a 'critical rate' that is unsustainable if the current trend continues.
Dr. Alex Garza, the incident commander of the task force, said the area hospitals admitted 40 or more new COVID-19 patients two of the last three days. He said it was the first time that has happened in nearly three months.
"This growth rate is just not sustainable," Dr. Garza said, "and this will result in health care slowing down in our services that we offer, and restriction of visitors. We just can not handle increasing volumes of COVID patients and not have to take other actions."
As concerned as he is about the current data, Dr. Garza said he is more concerned about where the region is heading.
"As shocking as those numbers are, that's not nearly what I'm worried about, the numbers that we see today," he said. "I worried about the numbers that we're going to see tomorrow, next week and next month as we're gearing up for the beginning of the school year."
Dr. Garza said everyone in the area has a role to play in making sure we can continue doing things we want to do, and sending children back to school safely.
"The plain truth is that simple acts that we do now — like wearing a mask regardless of if you live in a jurisdiction where it's mandated or not — will prevent dramatic actions like shelter-in-place in the future," he said.
Here are Wednesday's Task Force numbers:
- New hospital admissions (data lagged two days) increased – from 35 yesterday to 44 today.
- The seven-day moving average of hospital admissions (data lagged two days) increased – from 36 yesterday to 37 today.
- The seven-day moving average of hospitalizations increased from 234 yesterday to 239 today.
- Inpatient confirmed COVID positive hospitalizations increased - from 250 yesterday to 252 today.
- Inpatient suspected COVID positive hospitalizations increased – from 152 yesterday to 175 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients in the ICUs increased – from 55 yesterday to 56 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients on ventilators increased – from 29 yesterday to 30 today.
- Across the system hospitals, 41 COVID-19 patients were discharged yesterday, bringing the cumulative number of COVID-19 patients discharged to 3,511.
Earlier in the day, both Missouri and St. Louis County reported single-day records for new cases of COVID-19.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported a total of 36,063 cases, an increase of 1,301 cases in the last 24 hours. The single-day increase broke the record of 1,138 set Tuesday and was 46% higher than the increase last Wednesday.
The health department reported 9,140 new polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests in the last 24 hours, bringing the state's total to 589,460. PCR tests are the swab tests that look for active infection in people. The single-day positivity rate in the state was 14.23%, the highest it has been since May 3.
The state also reported 16 new deaths, bringing the total to 1,156.
St. Louis County also reported a record number of new cases Wednesday. The county reported 263 new cases, bringing the total to 9,624. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 619 COVID-19 deaths in the county, a single-day increase of nine deaths.
St. Charles County reported 81 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, significantly fewer cases than the last two days, and about 20% less than last Wednesday. The county also reported three new deaths, bringing the totals in the county to 2,693 cases and 84 deaths.
St. Louis reported 117 new cases and three new deaths Wednesday, bringing the city's totals to 3,538 cases and 164 deaths.
