ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force said the St. Louis area is doing a better job than the rest of the state of Missouri, resulting in decreasing hospitalization numbers in the area even as the state hospital numbers trend up.
On Monday, Dr. Alex Garza, the incident commander for the task force, said the seven-day average of new admissions was 31, its lowest point since July 15. Total hospitalizations were also down, both of which Dr. Garza said were likely a result of hard work by St. Louis area residents.
"The most likely reason our cases and admissions are continuing to fall are because of things that our community is doing to slow the spread," Dr. Garza said. "Things like wearing masks, staying away from large gatherings and staying a minimum of six feet away from each other."
Dr. Garza said continuing these practices will be key to returning to school and sports, but people should also take a cautious approach to those activities to avoid another spike in cases.
Dr. Garza said the reproductive rate for the St. Louis Area as a whole has remained around one, meaning the spread of the virus is not being impeded, but it is also not accelerating. He said that is due to ebbs and flows of the virus on both sides of the river.
While much of the Illinois side of the St. Louis area saw week-over-week decreases in new cases this week, a change from recent weeks. On the Missouri side, however, the numbers increased when compared to last week, with Franklin and Warren counties seeing the most significant increases.
The ZIP codes with the most significant increase in cases this week were:
- Arnold: 63010
- De Soto: 63020
- Festus: 63026
- Imperial: 63012
- St. Charles: 63301
- St. Peters: 63376
The task force numbers from Monday are as follows:
- New hospital admissions (data lagged two days) decreased from 26* yesterday to 22 today.
- The seven-day moving average of hospital admissions (data lagged two days) decreased – from 32 yesterday to 31 today.
- The seven-day moving average of hospitalizations decreased – from 262 yesterday to 261 today.
- Inpatient confirmed COVID positive hospitalizations increased – from 260 yesterday to 267 today.
- Inpatient suspected COVID positive hospitalizations increased - from 93 yesterday to 95 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients in the ICUs increased- from 70 yesterday to 71 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients on ventilators decreased from 43 yesterday to 40 today.
- Across the system hospitals, 20 COVID-19 patients were discharged yesterday, bringing the cumulative number of COVID-19 patients discharged to 5,947.
*Sunday’s hospital admission data changed from 25 to 26 but did not affect the seven-day moving average. We apologize for any issues this may cause.
On Monday, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 114,307 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,807 deaths, an increase of 1,463 cases and 12 deaths.
The department reported 1,219,559 PCR tests, a 24-hour increase of 7,051.
On Monday, the department reported more than 1,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations for the fourth consecutive day. On Monday, the department said 1,022 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, 42 fewer than the number reported Sunday.
Statewide hospitalization data is delayed 72 hours to improve accuracy, so the number reported Monday represented the number of hospitalizations on Sept. 18.
