10/28/2021 Weekly COVID-19 Update

Weekly COVID-19 Update

Lincoln County, Missouri is seeing a stable, but still high number of COVID-19 cases. We are adding about 20 cases per day.

The 7-day PCR positivity rate is 8.4%, at this time last week it was 7.9%. Our positivity rate seems to be pretty stable between 7 and 8 percent over the last week. Cases per 100,000 in Lincoln County are at 161, down from 227 last week. When we started the month of October, this number was 313. In order to be considered a community with low transmission, this number should be less than 10. Our number of active cases (individuals who are in isolation for COVID-19 infection) is at 124. Last week this number was at 157 and when we started the month of October, this number was at 219.

One thing we did want to mention about the data, is that there are some limitations. We only know about a COVID-19 positive case if it is reported to us. For example, if there is a positive at home test but they don’t call us to report it, we won’t know about it.

The zip code with the largest percent increase this week is 63381 (Truxton). The next biggest percent increase is 63347 (which is Foley).

Next is breakthrough data. The rate of breakthrough cases in September was about 12.6%. This means that 87.4% of COVID-19 cases occurred in individuals who were unvaccinated. The overall rate of breakthrough cases from mid-June to mid-October is about 11.9%. We want to remind you that breakthrough cases don’t mean the vaccine isn’t working. These vaccines are not 100% effective, and with a high amount of virus circulating in the community, it means everyone is exposed more.  

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 89 deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Lincoln County. There have been 16 deaths added to our count since the beginning of September. Our thoughts and prayers go out to each family affected.

Parents, have you talked to your child's pediatrician about the COVID-19 vaccine? The FDA will soon be discussing vaccines for ages 5-11. Now is a great time to start the conversation and ask questions. Pediatric cases currently make up about 37% of our active cases. This is still high, but lower than last week. At its highest, this rate was about 49% during early October. Cumulatively, throughout the whole pandemic, this group has made up about 20% of cases. Last year around this time, this age group only made up 15% of total cases. The age group with the largest percent increase in cases this week is the 0-9 age group. The group saw a 3.14% increase over last week. Other age groups remained more stable.

Percent of Lincoln County residents fully vaccinated.

The rate of Lincoln County residents who have completed COVID-19 is 37.3%. This means that there have been about 22,000 people in Lincoln County who have completed their primary vaccination series. Within that, there have been over 1,000 children between the ages of 12-17 in Lincoln County who have completed their vaccination series. Thank you to all of those individuals and we look forward to that number increasing.

We are holding a Moderna and Pfizer vaccine clinic on Tuesday of next week, on November 2nd. You can sign up on our website: https://healow.com/apps/practice/lincoln-county-health-department-5423?v=1