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'We've erased every bit of progress we made this summer and fall' | COVID-19 surging in St. Louis area, Dr. Garza says

"We have to do everything we can to turn these numbers around," Dr. Garza said

ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis area is trending in the wrong direction when it comes to COVID-19 data.

That was the message from Dr. Garza who is the head of St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force.

Dr. Garza said the coronavirus is circulating at a significant rate in the community.

"Weather outside today is a little bit gloomy, which I think is an appropriate description for covert data that we're going to share with you here in just a minute. Our cases are hospitalizations and our admissions numbers are continue at a dangerous ascent into territory we haven't seen since early on in the pandemic," Dr. Garza said in the beginning of his Monday briefing.

"Unfortunately, we have raised every bit of progress that we've made this summer and fall. The virus is circulating at a significant rate in our community, which is leading to more and more hospitalizations in our hospitals are beginning to feel the strain," he added. 

The rise in COVID-19 hospital admissions and influenza season – could resemble the beginning of the pandemic, he added.

"We have to do everything we can to turn these numbers around," Dr. Garza said.

He said the way to control the numbers is to decrease transmission of the virus.

If there continues to be a surge in COVID-19 cases, the health care systems will have to discuss other options such as reducing elective surgeries again, Dr. Garza said.

Dr. Garza said the numbers are moving in a "dangerous" direction across the region with St. Charles County seeing the most growth, specifically ZIP codes in St. Charles and O'Fallon. While he announced progress for Jefferson and Franklin Counties last week, Dr. Garza said both counties are now moving in the opposite direction. 

The State of Missouri is reporting a positivity rate of nearly 20%, which is where it was at the beginning of the pandemic when patients had to be showing symptoms to get tested. Local task force hospitals are reporting a positivity rate of more than 11%. Health officials have said a positivity rate above 10% is concerning. 

Gov. Mike Parson recently attributed the state's positivity rate to increased testing. However, Dr. Garza said an increased rate of positive cases is not because of more testing but because of more transmission. 

"We have more virus out in the community," Garza said. 

Click here to watch Monday's briefing 

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 Oct. 19.

- New hospital admissions (data lagged two days) decreased from 46* yesterday to 39 today.

- The seven-day moving average of hospital admissions (data lagged two days) increased from 46 yesterday to 48 today.

- The seven-day moving average of hospitalizations increased – from 307 yesterday to 315 today.

- Inpatient confirmed COVID positive hospitalizations increased – from 315 yesterday to 342 today.

- Inpatient suspected COVID positive hospitalizations decreased – from 92 yesterday to 90 today.

- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients in the ICUs increased – from 82 yesterday to 89 today.

- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients on ventilators decreased from – 43 yesterday to 39 today.

- Across the system hospitals, 26 COVID-19 patients were discharged yesterday, bringing the cumulative number of COVID-19 patients discharged to 7,103.

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