MISSOURI, USA — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported a record number of new COVID-19 cases in the state for the second day in a row Sunday.
On Sunday, the department reported 18,003 total cases, a single-day increase of 413. It was the first time the department has reported a single-day increase of more than 400 cases. The previous high was set a day earlier when the state reported 389 new cases.
The World Health Organization also reported a record number of new cases Sunday.
Many of the new cases Sunday came from the southwest corner of the state. McDonald County reported an increase of 196 cases and Newton County reported an increase of 88 cases.
On Monday, the state reported 379 new cases, but it came after a day in which the state did not update its count. The previous single-day high before this week was 368 cases on May 5, the day Missouri Governor Mike Parson launched the state's reopening plan. On Tuesday, Missouri moved into phase two of the state's reopening plan which Parson described as the state being "fully open for business."
The state health department reported no new deaths Sunday, so the total remained at 956.
The state reported an increase of 4,042 PCR tests Sunday, bringing the state's total to 315,157. Since changing the way it reported testing in the state, the 7-day average of new PCR tests has remained around 6,000.
Of the counties in the St. Louis area, St. Louis County and St. Francois counties reported the highest increases Sunday with 25 and 16 new cases respectively. It was the highest single-day increase for St. Francois County, which now has 66 cases. Earlier in the week, health department officials said the state prison in St. Francois County was experiencing an outbreak, which accounted for some of the new cases.
St. Louis County still has the most cases of any jurisdiction in the state with 5,850, according to the St. Louis County Health Department dashboard.
Numbers reported by local health departments are often higher than the numbers reported by the state. There are about 500 cases reported by local health departments that are not included in the state's count.
Despite the increase in new cases, the state reported 415 COVID-19 patients in hospitals across the state, the lowest number since April 19.
The hospital data in the St. Louis continued its downward trend Sunday. The St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force reported 228 total COVID-19 patients, a slight increase from Saturday, but the moving 7-day average decreased to a new low of 235.
The number of patients on ventilators and in the ICU also decreased Sunday.
The full breakdown of data trends from the task force is below.
- New hospital admissions: 17, down from 18 Saturday
- Seven-day moving average of new hospital admissions: 14, same as Saturday
- Hospitalizations: 228, up from 227 Saturday
- Seven-day moving average of hospitalizations: 235, down from 237 Saturday
- Patients in the ICU: 41, down from 48 Saturday
- Patients on ventilators: 27, same as Saturday
- Patients discharged yesterday: 15, bringing the total to 2,704
For a full county-by-county breakdown of cases, use our interactive map: