Ending of Federal Emergency This is the final COVID-19 Dashboard that will be published by the Dent County Health Center. On May 11th, 2023, the Federal Emergency ended, and with that, most of the remaining emergency rules regarding COVID-19 ended as well. Continuation of Monitoring COVID-19 has been added to the list of routine infectious diseases which are monitored by our office. It continues to be required in Missouri to report positive cases to our office and to the State, however, negative tests do not have to be reported, so calculation of a positivity rate is no longer possible. As…
COVID has slightly increased since the beginning of the year, but we are nowhere near the levels of early 2021 or 2022, and most importantly, very few cases of hospitalizations and deaths are being reported. Our test positivity rate is very high at 63%, and most of our reports are coming from laboratory PCR testing, which means that too few people are being tested and that cases are likely being missed. Updated boosters are still available. Only about 7.5% of the eligible population in Dent County has received their updated booster. Though smaller numbers of people with COVID-19 are experiencing…
COVID cases continue to be detected in Dent County. Strong herd immunity from vaccinations and infections has contributed to a decrease in transmission and severe disease. Dent County has continued to be impacted by other respiratory illnesses, particularly influenza, this winter. COVID-19 booster shots now contain a version of the spike protein from the Omicron strain of COVID-19, which is responsible for the large increase in cases seen over the ’21/’22 winter season. Current circulating strains have important differences from Omicron, but recent studies have shown that this booster shot still confers strong immunity against severe illness and death. Due…
Ending of Federal Emergency This is the final COVID-19 Dashboard that will be published by the Dent County Health Center. On May 11th, 2023, the Federal Emergency ended, and with that, most of the remaining emergency rules regarding COVID-19 ended as well. Continuation of Monitoring COVID-19 has been added to the list of routine infectious diseases which are monitored by our office. It continues to be required in Missouri to report positive cases to our office and to the State, however, negative tests do not have to be reported, so calculation of a positivity rate is no longer possible. As…
COVID has slightly increased since the beginning of the year, but we are nowhere near the levels of early 2021 or 2022, and most importantly, very few cases of hospitalizations and deaths are being reported. Our test positivity rate is very high at 63%, and most of our reports are coming from laboratory PCR testing, which means that too few people are being tested and that cases are likely being missed. Updated boosters are still available. Only about 7.5% of the eligible population in Dent County has received their updated booster. Though smaller numbers of people with COVID-19 are experiencing…
COVID cases continue to be detected in Dent County. Strong herd immunity from vaccinations and infections has contributed to a decrease in transmission and severe disease. Dent County has continued to be impacted by other respiratory illnesses, particularly influenza, this winter. COVID-19 booster shots now contain a version of the spike protein from the Omicron strain of COVID-19, which is responsible for the large increase in cases seen over the ’21/’22 winter season. Current circulating strains have important differences from Omicron, but recent studies have shown that this booster shot still confers strong immunity against severe illness and death. Due…
Additional Notes for this week:
