JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — St. Louis area hospitals reported record-breaking new hospital admissions and hospitalizations Tuesday. Statewide, there were more than 5,700 new confirmed cases of COVID-19.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force Tuesday reported 144 new hospital admissions -- a record high. The 7-day moving average also increased to 124, another record.
"COVID-19 is spreading much too quickly and sending far too many people to our hospitals and intensive care units," he said. "We are now at a tipping point. The actions that we take today will determine what the next weeks and months will look like."
Last week, Garza and other infectious disease physicians pleaded for statewide action, including a mask mandate and a "safer at home" policy to lessen the burden on health care workers and free up hospital capacity.
However, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson's office maintained there would be no statewide mandates.
The following data are the combined figures from the four major health systems (BJC HealthCare, Mercy, SSM Health, St. Luke’s Hospital) that are part of the task force, for Nov. 17:
- New hospital admissions (data lagged two days) increased – from 109 yesterday to 144 today, a new daily admissions record.
- The seven-day moving average of hospital admissions (data lagged two days) increased from 120 yesterday to 124 today, a new seven-day moving average record.
- The seven-day moving average of hospitalizations increased – from 707 yesterday to 733 today, a new seven-day moving average record.
- Inpatient confirmed COVID positive hospitalizations increased – from 809 yesterday to 838 today, a new daily hospitalization record.
- Inpatient suspected COVID positive hospitalizations increased – from 88 yesterday to 90 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients in the ICUs increased – from 162 yesterday to 163 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients on ventilators remained the same at 89 today.
- Across the system hospitals, 140 COVID-19 patients were discharged yesterday, bringing the cumulative number of COVID-19 patients discharged to 9,245.
The state reported a cumulative total of 248,886 cases of COVID-19 Tuesday, an increase of 5,717 from Monday (243,169). The state also reported a total of 3,453 deaths Tuesday -- an increase of 67 deaths. However, the state said the majority of the new COVID-19 related deaths occurred over the course of several weeks.
The state analyzed death certificates and found 42 people died from COVID-19. One of the deaths occurred in September; 37 occurred in October and four deaths occurred earlier this month.
The state reported a record high of new cases Saturday with 6,346. The 7-day moving average is at 4,390 cases per day. The state's overall positivity rate is at 24.4%.
In Illinois, the state's health department reported more than 10,000 newly confirmed cases for the 12th consecutive day.
The department reported 597,849 cases and 10,875 deaths as of Tuesday, a single-day increase of 12,601 cases and 96 deaths.
The state said 94,205 new tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of tests conducted in the state to 9,255,658.
On Tuesday, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker announced Tier 3 restrictions for the entire state in response to increasing cases and positivity rates.
The seven-day positivity rate in the Metro East decreased for the first time in 10 days. According to the number reported by the state's health department, the region's positivity rate was 16.1%, down from 16.3% reported Monday.
The positivity rate is delayed 72 hours, so the number reported on Tuesday represents the seven-day average positivity rate on Nov. 14.
