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Missouri reports backlog of tests resulting in single-day record number of new tests, COVID-19 cases

The backlog resulted in a record number of cases and tests, which resulted in the positivity rate in the state decreasing

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A three-day backlog of tests was reported Thursday by Missouri officials, resulting in the highest single-day increase of COVID-19 cases and tests in the state.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported a total of 19,421 cases, an increase of 553 cases.

Despite the increase in total cases, the state's positivity rate decreased from 5.77% on Wednesday to 5.68% Thursday due to a record increase in new tests. The state reported 341,648 PCR tests Thursday, a single-day increase of 14,624.

Of the 553 new cases reported Thursday, 160 were from a three-day backlog from Quest Diagnostics. The backlog delayed the reporting of both negative and positive tests from the lab, a total of more than 13,000.

Dr. Randal Williams, the director of the Department of Health and Senior Services said the rolling seven-day average positivity rate in the state is about 4%.

Of the new cases reported Thursday, 95 came from southwest Missouri, where an outbreak at a food processing plant led to an increase in testing and cases over the weekend. Kansas City accounted for 105 of the new cases and St. Louis County reported 88 new cases.

Another 96 of the cases came from Sullivan County, which had previously reported 12 COVID-19 cases.

Dr. Williams said the CDC lead investigator arrived in Joplin on Thursday to look into the outbreak in southwest Missouri, and the Missouri National Guard would be in the area this weekend to help with community testing. Dr. Williams said it is the first time a CDC investigator has been called into the state to do an epidemiological COVID-19 study. 

Hospitalization numbers in the state increased Thursday to a total of 600 COVID-19 patients across the state. The data is delayed 72 hours, and Thursday's update represents the hospital census from June 22. 

In the St. Louis area, all the numbers tracked by the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force saw a single-day and seven-day average decrease Thursday.

The task force reported a total of 216 COVID-19 patients in area hospitals, the lowest number the task force has reported since it began tracking data and a single-day decrease of 31.

The full breakdown of data trends from the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force is below.

  • New hospital admissions: 17, down from 26 Wednesday
  • Seven-day moving average of new hospital admissions: 18, same as Wednesday
  • Hospitalizations: 216, down from 247 Wednesday
  • Seven-day moving average of hospitalizations: 231, down from 235 Wednesday
  • Patients in the ICU: 49, down from 53 Wednesday
  • Patients on ventilators: 25, down from 27 Wednesday
  • Patients discharged yesterday: 30, bringing the total to 2,793

For a full county-by-county breakdown of cases in the state, use our interactive map. Some of the local county numbers come from local health departments and may not match data from the DHSS.

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