Pettis County added 123 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the total number of cases to 3,562, according to the Pettis County Health Center.
There are now 835 active cases and 2,693 residents have been released to normal activity.
According to the Pettis County COVID-19 Task Force briefing issued Monday, Pettis County has seen an increase of 258 cases in the past week and 473 cases in the past two weeks. The briefing states the county is starting to see cases from Thanksgiving gatherings and the Health Center expects an increase in hospitalizations starting mid-week and into the weekend.
The positivity rate for the month of November is 35.45%. The rate for the week of Nov. 22-28 is 23.39% and the rate per 100,000 is 514.89.
The briefing states Pettis County is considered a high-risk county based on the public health warning issued by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. The parameters for being an extreme risk county are a PCR seven-day positivity rate of 15% or above and a seven-day case rate per 100,000 of 350 or above. Pettis County far exceeds these thresholds.
Guidance recommendations include occupancy limits in businesses to reflect social distancing (a minimum of 6 feet between customers or tables), limiting social groups to 10 or less (a social group is defined as any planned or spontaneous event or gathering that would bring together a group of people in a single space at the same time, excluding normal business activities, religious services, schools and school activities and extended family gatherings) and masks are strongly advised (although still required in Pettis County) in all offices and businesses where social distancing is not possible.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported a seven-day total of 22,031 cases on Monday or an average of 3,147 per day. There were a total of 77 deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Missouri during the last seven days, representing an average of 11 deaths per day.
