ST. LOUIS — Cars pull up to white tents in Poplar Bluff, site of Missouri's first state-run mass vaccination center. Staffed by members of the National Guard, officials hope to administer up to 2,500 doses there each day.
Experts say this site -- with 26 more on the way -- is still the very beginning of vaccine rollout, and -- despite improving data points -- it's important to keep our guard up.
Speaking at the state capitol this week, Dr. Randall Williams said Missouri ranks 9th best in the nation for positive cases per 100,000 people over a 7-day period.
"I started the day with a 7 o'clock phone call with a doctor from another state, and he said 'what're y'all doing? How are you doing that?' which made me pause. We understand it's dynamic. We never take anything for granted," Dr. Williams said.
But according to an analysis by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Missouri may be skewing case counts by excluding positive results on antigen -- or rapid -- tests in their totals. The paper says -- in January -- daily COVID cases would be 20-40 percent higher on any given day if the state combined results from both tests.
"It's certainly not as precise as you would like it to be," St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force head, Dr. Alex Garza, said during the regular Friday afternoon briefing.
Garza said he's not sure what the full impact of leaving out rapid tests is because he didn't know how many rapid tests are administered in the state versus the PCR tests. But he said there is still value in the data because experts can use it as a metric.
"When you are looking at the data for testing, you are looking for trends," Garza said. "There is enough saturation of those PCR tests, so it's a good sample of what is occurring out in the community."
When it comes to those National Guard-staffed mass vaccination sites, the state plans to put three in each state police district. It's unclear where they will be located in the St. Louis area.
The state said the vaccine supply continues to be low.