ST. LOUIS — Missouri reported 290 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, the biggest single-day increase in the state since May 4.
While June has seen daily death tolls for COVID-19 in the single digits in Missouri, the average number of new cases has been on the rise over the past three weeks, according to state data analyzed by the Post-Dispatch.
Thursday’s tally pushes the weekly average of new cases to 197 — the highest since May 10, when the weekly average was 208.
The daily count of new cases was on a steep downward trend since May 7, hitting a low point on May 17 with an average of 135 cases. But it’s been creeping back up since.
Dr. Randall Williams, director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, said the increase could be due to the state’s vast improvement in testing — up to 12,000 tests a day — but he did not want to assume that.
People are also reading…
“The reason we are doing all this testing … is to look for hot spots,” Williams said while answering a question about the increase during Gov. Mike Parson’s daily press conference held Thursday in Jefferson City.
After looking at the case numbers, health officials noticed an increase in the Kansas City area, Williams said.
“The first thing we’ll do is to be asking questions tonight about Kansas City … and just kind of break that down as to, ‘Is there anything there we need to be more vigilant about?,’” he said. “And that is the whole purpose (of testing), to identify areas early so we can get a look at it.”
For the third consecutive day, the Kansas City metropolitan area has added more than 100 new coronavirus cases, the Kansas City Star reported.
The area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas, has a total of 4,684 cases.
In the St. Louis area on Thursday, St. Louis County reported 38 new cases — for a total of 5,165 — and three more deaths. St. Louis reported 28 more cases — for a total of 2,034 — and no new deaths.
St. Charles County reported 13 new cases and one more death. Jefferson County reported one more case for a total of 396 and no new deaths.
Franklin County announced six new cases, five of them affecting residents and employees of Sunset Health Care Center in Union, and no new deaths.
Illinois reported 1,129 new cases, for a total of 124,749, and 115 new deaths.
St. Louis-area hospital admissions and hospitalizations for COVID-19 continue to drop, the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force reported on Thursday.
The average number of COVID-19 patients in the hospital over the past week fell from 346 to 333, the task force said. The seven-day moving average number for new daily admissions stayed the same at 19.
The most recent daily report shows 11 people were admitted to hospitals.
The task force compiles numbers from four leading health systems in the region: BJC HealthCare, Mercy, SSM Health and St. Luke’s Hospital.
Government and health officials continued to express concern about the proximity of large crowds of people during daily protests against systemic racism and the deaths of black men at the hands of police.
Parson said at the Thursday’s press conference that local leaders pressed him to send the message, “COVID-19 is still out there. The virus is still out there.”
Dr. Hilary Babcock, infectious disease specialist at BJC HealthCare and Washington University School of Medicine, said the public must remain vigilant in staying six feet away from other, wearing masks and washing hands.
“In the absence of stay-home orders, the responsibility devolves back to individuals and ways we can still keep us and those around us safe as we get out and about a little bit more,” Babcock said.
She said she recognizes, however, that “structural racism and police violence are also public health crises that have been going on longer than we’ve had COVID. So, I certainly understand the desire to stand in opposition of those forces.”
Babcock recommended demonstrators stay in groups of people whom you live with or know and limit interactions with new people. People coordinating protests can encourage people to wear face masks and hand out sanitizer. Police can avoid trying to corral people into tighter spaces or place those arrested in police vans or crowded jail cells.
“There are a lot of ways that people both involved in the protest and people responding to the protest can help minimize the impact from a COVID perspective,” she said.
Michele Munz • 314-340-8263 @michelemunz on Twitter mmunz@post-dispatch.com
Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect that the seven-day moving average for hospitalizations remained unchanged at 19.