ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force reported new numbers on Tuesday, which showed a slight increase in new hospital admissions and overall hospitalizations among COVID-19 patients in the St. Louis area.
While some numbers saw slight increases, the seven-day average of new hospital admissions went down.
The full breakdown of data trends from the task force is below.
- New hospital admissions: 10, up from 5 Monday
- Seven-day moving average of new hospital admissions: 14, down from 15 Monday
- Hospitalizations: 250, up from 246 Monday
- Seven-day moving average of hospitalizations: 252, up from 251 Monday
- Patients in the ICU: 59, down from 66 Monday
- Patients on ventilators: 34, down from 42 Monday
Across the system hospitals, 21 COVID-19 patients were discharged Monday, bringing the total to 2,602 patients released in the St. Louis area since data tracking began.
Dr. Alex Garza, incident commander with the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force, said Monday the reopening process is possible because of the steps taken by the public.
"Now, this is possible because of the steps that we've all taken in the past few months, to socially distance ourselves, to use proper hand hygiene and the wearing of masks in public," Dr. Garza said. "And it's these practices that will help us to open up and go back to the things that we like to do."
In addition to the data normally provided by the task force, Dr. Garza also presented data showing that black communities are at a higher risk of testing positive and ending up in the hospital due to COVID-19 on Monday.
According to task force data, Dr. Garza said black residents in the St. Louis area are about four times more likely to test positive for COVID-19 and more than twice as likely to end up in the hospital due to COVID-19.
Dr. Garza said 60% of black patients who test positive for COVID-19 get admitted into the hospital, compared to about 40% of white patients.
"Again, this tells a story that we've said before, that COVID disproportionately affects the black community much more than the non-black community, and we've finally been able to generate some numbers in order to show that discrepancy," Dr. Garza said.
The task force's next live briefing will take place on Monday, June 22 at 3:30 p.m.