JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri health department reported more than 4,200 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 Tuesday and 146 new deaths related to the virus, but the majority of those deaths occurred within the last several weeks.
The Department of Health and Senior Services analyzed death certificates and linked 138 deaths to COVID-19, according to a press release from the department. Three of the 138 deaths occurred in September and 123 occurred in October. Twelve of the deaths occurred earlier this month.
The state said, going forward, it will start analyzing death certificates on Mondays instead of Fridays.
Tuesday, the state reported a cumulative total of 216,697 cases of COVID-19, an increase of 4,256 cases from Monday's total of 212,441. That figure is well above the state's seven-day average of 3,454 cases.
COVID-19 related hospitalizations in Missouri surpassed the 2,000 mark for the first time Monday with 2,106 patients currently in hospitals. That is an increase of about 26% from a week ago when there were 1,666 hospitalizations.
The seven-day positivity rate is at 20.6%, almost a full point higher than Monday's rate of 19.5%.
In the St. Louis area, the pandemic task force reported 600 hospitalizations of confirmed COVID-19 cases Monday. Late last week, new daily hospital admissions hovered near 100.
"The virus is spreading way too quickly and making too many people sick that have to seek care in our health care systems," Dr. Alex Garza, the head of the task force, said during a briefing on Monday. "And sadly, we're not keeping up with the pace of the virus right now, right now. Really, the virus is winning."
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Jefferson County Monday reported 240 new cases of COVID-19, the highest number reported in a single day since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the health department's post on Facebook.
Illinois reported 10,873 new COVID-19 cases Monday, the most recent data available. This was the fourth day in a row that the state reported more than 4,000 cases. The seven-day average has jumped by 51% in the past week. The positivity rate was up from 10.6% Sunday to 10.4% Monday.
Much of Illinois is under COVID-19 restrictions.