Pettis County added 140 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases to 4,326, according to the Pettis County Health Center.
There are now 416 active cases and 3,844 residents have been released to normal activity. Ten residents are now hospitalized seeking treatment for the virus. The Health Center also reported 15 more deaths, bringing the county’s total to 66.
“It is important to note that these deaths did not all happen at the same time, we just recently received confirmation from the state regarding them,” the Health Center posted on its Facebook page. “We only update death numbers when official confirmation of cause of death is received.”
This is compared to 4,077 cases on Dec. 28 and 3,908 cases on Dec. 21. This is an increase of 187 cases in the past week and 356 cases in the past two weeks.
The positivity rate for Dec. 15-21 is 18.24% and the rate is 389.71 per 100,000. The positivity rate for Dec. 22-28 is 20.30% and the rate is 410.97 per 100,000.
“Our percentages are beginning to climb again with Dec. 28 being a day with a significant increase in positive tests for the day,” the Health Center stated in the Pettis County COVID-19 Task Force briefing issued Tuesday. “We have now reached the number of 10% of the county residents have tested positive since our first reported positive case on March 26, 2020.”
The Health Center information also asks residents to monitor themselves and to seek medical care if they become ill, especially if they are having difficulty breathing, notice a dusky color around their lips or nail beds or are experiencing dizziness.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported a seven-day total of 17,319 cases on Tuesday or an average of 2,474 per day. There were a total of 63 deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Missouri during the last seven days, representing an average of nine deaths per day.
