ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force released more encouraging metrics Thursday.
The task force reported a total of 488 COVID-19 patients in area hospitals. That's down from 511 reported on Wednesday.
The number of COVID-19 patients in area ICUs decreased from 125 on Wednesday to 121 on Thursday.
The number of patients on ventilators also decreased, from 93 on Wednesday to 84 Thursday.
Across the task force hospitals, 38 COVID-19 patients were discharged on Wednesday, bringing the total number of coronavirus patients discharged to 1,784.
The task force reported 31 new hospital admissions on Thursday. It reported 32 on Wednesday.
During the briefing on Wednesday, Task Force Incident Commander Dr. Alex Garza urged people to continue with social distancing and hand washing even as parts of the region being to open back up, to prevent "going backwards".
He said the metrics are hovering near the task force's projection. He also noted that area hospital leaders feel "comfortable with where they are now", especially with ICU numbers continuing to decline.
St. Louis and St. Louis County will begin to ease restrictions Monday, allowing some businesses to reopen and small social gatherings.
You can click here to watch Wednesday's entire briefing on the task force's Facebook page, or watch below.