ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Hospitalization numbers take a dip across the four major health systems in the St. Louis region.
This includes BJC HealthCare, Mercy, SSM Health, and St. Luke’s Hospital.
The seven-day moving average of hospitalizations is at 356, the lowest since July 30.
"We're seeing a clear decline in the number of cases in the region, not huge but coming down," Dr. Clay Dunagan with the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force said.
The data in St. Louis County shows this downward trend:
- The seven-day average of daily cases is 206, which is a 10.2% decrease from two weeks ago
- The highest rates of new cases are in 5- to 14-year-olds
- The positive test rates stand at 7.5%
- However, those rates are higher for children ages 5-14
Another nugget among the data, South St. Louis County is now seeing the highest rates of infections.
As of Sept. 27, the average rate of new COVID-19 cases is at 28.6 cases per 100,000 per day.
"Numbers in North County, where the virus hit the hardest, are receding," County Executive Dr. Sam Page said.
Dr. Rachel Charney is the Medical Director of Emergency Preparedness at Cardinal Glennon Children's hospital.
"One thing we are noticing, COVID is starting to have these two-month waves and no one is completely clear why that is," she said. "Is it because more mitigation strategies are being placed after an increase? Is it because it's burning through the community that's more vulnerable? But I think it's reassuring that it is going down and what we're doing is working."
Dr. Charney also looked into the possible reasons why the 5-14 age range is getting affected more.
"It does remain higher than older kids and youngest kids, you get a curve in there. It's hard to say what the factors are with that... is it because on how they engage each other socially with fall sports? Is it the classroom set up?" she adds.
One possible reason is that most of the kids aren't eligible for vaccinations just yet.
She said while those children can't get the shot for those who can, should.
"The higher the vaccine rates in our community, the better we are," Dr. Charney said.
For now, Dr. Charney said this is the right direction to be heading.
"Last year, we started to see a rise after Halloween and thanksgiving and starting off going into the holidays as low as possible, I think is very important for those that want to spend time with family," she said.