21/09/20 by coopercountypublichealth

STATE REPORT 09.20.2020

MISSOURI

SUMMARY

Missouri is in the red zone for cases, indicating 101 or more new cases per 100,000 population last week, with the 5th highest rate in the country. Missouri is in the orange zone for test positivity, indicating a rate between 8.0% and 10.0%, with the 10th highest rate in the country.
Missouri has seen an increase in new cases and a decrease in test positivity over the last week.

The following three counties had the highest number of new cases over the last 3 weeks: 1. St. Louis County, 2. Jackson County, and 3. Greene County. These counties represent 29.7% of new cases in Missouri.
74% of all counties in Missouri have moderate or high levels of community transmission (yellow, orange, or red zones), with 45% having high levels of community transmission (red zone). Spread is across rural and urban settings.
During the week of Sep 7 – Sep 13, 15% of nursing homes had at least one new resident COVID-19 case, 28% had at least one new staff COVID-19 case, and 5% had at least one new resident COVID-19 death.
Missouri had 179 new cases per 100,000 population in the last week, compared to a national average of 86 per 100,000.
Current staff deployed from the federal government as assets to support the state response are: 66 to support operations activities from FEMA; 7 to support operations activities from ASPR; 2 to support epidemiology activities from CDC; 2 to support operations activities from CDC; 12 to support medical activities from VA; and 1 to support operations activities from VA.

Between Sep 12 – Sep 18, on average, 107 patients with confirmed COVID-19 and 224 patients with suspected COVID-19 were reported as newly admitted each day to hospitals in Missouri. An average of greater than 95% of hospitals reported either new confirmed or new suspected COVID patient s each day during this period.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Ensuring mask utilization statewide will prevent unnecessary transmission and deaths in vulnerable communities.
Maintain community testing at July levels in order to effectively identify cases and rapidly intervene as transmission patterns continue to change.
Conduct rigorous case investigation and rapid contact tracing with early isolation of known or suspected cases and quarantine of all contacts. Maintain a particular focus in cities or counties with elevated or increasing transmission and tourist areas. Use results from contact tracing to message to the community about current transmission trends and how citizens can protect themselves.

Track antigen positive results with PCR confirmed results to determine totality of community spread in local areas.
In areas with ongoing high levels of transmission (red and orange zones), use standard metrics to determine school learning options and capacity for bars and indoor dining. Expand outdoor dining options.
Dramatically increase testing at universities to quickly find and quarantine on-campus cases and prevent spread in surrounding community. Use positive incentives to encourage testing among students. Implement wastewater surveillance in order to identify and respond to changes in transmission levels. Do not reassign cases that test positive in university settings to hometown as this lessens ability to track and control local spread.
Major universities are transparently tracking COVID cases, such as the University of Arizona ( https://covid19.arizona.edu/dashboard ). Ensure this is happening at universities in Missouri.
Ensure the protection of those in nursing homes, assisted living, and long-term care facilities (LTCFs) by ensuring access to rapid facility-wide testing in response to a resident or staff member with COVID-19; isolate all posit ive staff and residents. Ensure social distancing and universal facemask use. Immediately conduct infection control surveys in all nursing homes with initial cases or 3 or more cases in the last week. Antigen testing supplies will continue to be provided by the federal government over the next 4-6 weeks to support LTCF testing.

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