ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force said COVID-19 hospitalizations remain high in the St. Louis area Tuesday, one day after the first shipments of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine arrived at area hospitals.
The task force reported 25 additional deaths in the St. Louis area Tuesday, an increase from 18 Monday.
Staffed bed capacity was at 84% Tuesday across the four major hospital systems that are part of the task force – BJC HealthCare, Mercy, SSM Health, St. Luke’s Hospital. ICUs were at 85% staffed bed capacity.
New hospital admissions increased from 85 Monday to 100 Tuesday, with data lagged two days. The seven-day moving average, also lagged two days, decreased slightly from 116 to 115.
Inpatient hospitalization of people suspected to have COVID-19 increased from 69 to 91.
Though the vaccine has arrived, it will be some time before everyone is able to be vaccinated, and even then, health officials warn that people should continue to take steps to prevent the spread of the virus. Dr. Alex Garza, head of the task force, said Monday that vaccinations are "a really critical step in winning this war over the virus."
St. Louis mayor Lyda Krewson said Monday that the vaccine will be distributed in the following order during Phase 1: health care workers first, essential workers (EMS, fire departments, police, corrections facilities, teachers, education staff) and then high-risk populations (65 and older with underlying conditions.)
Here is the task force's full breakdown of data for Dec. 15, 2020:
- New hospital admissions (data lagged two days) increased from 85 yesterday to 100 today.
- The seven-day moving average of hospital admissions (data lagged two days) decreased – from 116 to 115 today.
- The seven-day moving average of hospitalizations increased - from 893 yesterday to 894 today.
- Inpatient confirmed COVID positive hospitalizations increased – from 915 yesterday to 920 today.
- Inpatient suspected COVID positive hospitalizations increased – from 69 yesterday to 91 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients in the ICUs decreased – from 188 yesterday to 181 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients on ventilators decreased – from 120 yesterday to 111 today.
- The number of COVID deaths increased – from 18* yesterday to 25 today.
- The seven-day moving average of COVID deaths increased – from 22* yesterday to 23 today.
- Across the system hospitals, 141 COVID-19 patients were discharged to home yesterday, bringing the cumulative number of COVID-19 patients discharged to 12,706.
*As a result of a delay in reporting, the death total for Monday was updated from 17 to 18, changing the seven-day average to 22 from 21.
