ST. LOUIS — After a one-day spike in new hospital admissions in the St. Louis area, that metric Thursday fell below what the pandemic task force considers its "red zone," but the seven-day moving average of hospital admissions is still above that threshold.
New hospital admissions decreased from 64 on Wednesday to 36 on Thursday, while the seven-day moving average decreased from 44 to 43, with the data lagged two days. The head of the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force
Statewide, the number of people hospitalized for the coronavirus in Missouri reached another record Thursday, and the seven-day average positivity rate was more than triple the benchmark suggested by the World Health Organization.
The state health department's COVID-19 dashboard showed 1,875 new confirmed cases and 22 deaths. According to the dashboard, Missouri ranks fourth nationally in reported deaths over the past seven days, and eighth in the number of new cases. All told, Missouri has reported 150,554 confirmed cases and 2,442 deaths since the pandemic began.
The state's seven-day positivity rate was 17.9%. The national seven-day positivity rate was at 5.1%, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The WHO has set 5% as the benchmark.
Meanwhile, 1,443 people were hospitalized in Missouri on Wednesday, setting a new record for the third straight day. Hospitalizations have risen dramatically since the state loosened restrictions in mid-June. On June 16, 626 people were hospitalized, and that number dropped to 375 on July 7. It has nearly quadrupled since then.
The state's dashboard had been unavailable for a few days after a computer error led to an inflated number of COVID-19 cases on Saturday. It was updated by Wednesday evening.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force provided the following data Thursday from the four major health systems (BJC HealthCare, Mercy, SSM Health, St. Luke’s Hospital):
- New hospital admissions (data lagged two days) decreased from 64* yesterday to 36 today.
- The seven-day moving average of hospital admissions (data lagged two days) decreased from 44 to 43 today.
- The seven-day moving average of hospitalizations increased – from 287 yesterday to 293 today.
- Inpatient confirmed COVID positive hospitalizations increased – from 310 yesterday to 314 today.
- Inpatient suspected COVID positive hospitalizations increased – from 84 yesterday to 101 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients in the ICUs increased – from 68 yesterday to 75 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients on ventilators remained the same at 37 today.
- Across the system hospitals, 54 COVID-19 patients were discharged yesterday, bringing the cumulative number of COVID-19 patients discharged to 6,916.
