ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — St. Louis County long-term care facilities reported more than 900 new COVID-19 cases in November, more than three times as many cases reported in October, the county's health department said Friday.
The county said there were 913 cases in skilled nursing, assisted living and residential care facilities, the worst of the pandemic so far. The county said there were 276 long-term care cases in October.
As of Dec. 3, 3,762 long-term care residents have been diagnosed so far in the pandemic, and 593 of those individuals have died. Long-term care cases accounted for 7% of all cases in the county but 57% of the deaths as of Dec. 3. The fatality rate of cases in long-term care residents is 15.8%.
The full report shows the number of cases reported at each facility.
Even though there were three times as many long-term care cases in November when compared to the previous month, the county said that was largely due to "explosive growth in transmission of the disease in the community."
"In fact, the proportion of the county’s COVID-19 patients who are LTC residents has actually gone down a bit from October to November," the press release from the county said. "LTC residents accounted for about 9% of cumulative STLCO cases at the end of October, and at the end of November they accounted for about 7% of cumulative STLCO cases."
There were 6,878 new cases in October and 19,827 in November, according to numbers published to the county's dashboard at the time.
St. Louis County and the state of Missouri have put rules and suggestions in place for long-term care facilities in an effort to limit the spread of the virus to the vulnerable people that live there.
The county health department said it "continues to work closely with these facilities to ensure that their staff and residents have the resources, testing, and guidance necessary to protect themselves against COVID-19."
The state published guidance earlier in the pandemic advising facilities to limit visitors, screen employees and limit the number of essential care employees are interacting with each resident.
As of Dec. 11, the county has reported a total of 58,921 cases and 1,147 deaths.
