ST. LOUIS — The Missouri health department found 246 more deaths linked to COVID-19 after analyzing death certificates from as far back as April.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services' Bureau of Vital Records analyzes death certificate every week. Most of the deaths it found this week happened in November and December, DHSS said.
The department started the count Monday but took longer than usual to finish due to "a higher than average volume of records to review," it said.
Here is a breakdown of when those deaths occurred:
- April: 1
- July: 2
- August: 1
- September: 1
- October: 7
- November: 153
- December: 81
To date, Missouri has reported 5,255 coronavirus deaths and more than 373,000 cases.
As of Wednesday, the number of new cases reported in the past seven days in Missouri was 18,467, which is an average of 2,638 per day. Missourians have a positivity rate of 17% over the past seven days, using the CDC's calculation method.
Deaths reported from the analysis were reflected in the state's COVID-19 dashboard update Tuesday and Wednesday. They typically cause a sharp increase in the state's daily death report, but the health department reminds that not all deaths reported each day occurred in the previous 24 hours. Once DHSS reports a death, it is assigned to the date when it occurred, not when it was reported.
