ST. LOUIS — On Wednesday, the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force reported 71 new COVID-19 patients in a single day, the most since the beginning of the pandemic.
The Wednesday increase comes two days after Dr. Garza said the seven-day average of new hospital admissions — one of the key metrics tracked by the task force — seemed to have plateaued. Dr. Garza said the seven-day average for new hospital admissions has been hovering around 40 for about the last month. The task force delays the new COVID-19 admissions data by two days to improve accuracy.
Dr. Garza has said an average of 40 new admissions is right on the threshold of what the task force considers its 'red zone'. Due to Wednesday's increase in patients, the seven-day average increased from 39 to 43.
"Despite this large number, we don't like to look at the swings from one day to the next, but it's hard to ignore such a significant increase," Dr. Garza said.
Dr. Garza said the increase was not from one specific healthcare system, and the task force's data analytics team is still breaking down the data to better understand the record increase.
Dr. Garza said the best way to prevent this type of increase is to continue to practice mitigation efforts like social distancing and mask wearing.
Wednesday, the task force also reported more than 300 total COVID-19 hospitalizations for the first time since May.
Here are Wednesday's numbers from the task force:
- New hospital admissions (data lagged two days) increased – from 43 yesterday to 71 today.
- The seven-day moving average of hospital admissions (data lagged two days) increased – from 39 yesterday to 43 today.
- The seven-day moving average of hospitalizations increased – from 259 yesterday to 267 today.
- Inpatient confirmed COVID positive hospitalizations increased – from 296 yesterday to 309 today.
- Inpatient suspected COVID positive hospitalizations increased – from 96 yesterday to 114 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients in the ICUs increased – from 83 yesterday to 86 today.
- The number of confirmed COVID positive patients on ventilators increased – from 44 yesterday to 45 today.
- Across the system hospitals, 41 COVID-19 patients were discharged yesterday, bringing the cumulative number of COVID-19 patients discharged to 4,927.
On Wednesday, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported a single-day increase of more than 1,000 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases for the first time since Saturday.
The department reported 78,062 COVID-19 cases and 1,449 deaths Wednesday, an increase of 1,426 cases and nine deaths.
Wednesday's increase in cases was 734 more than Tuesday and 168 more than last Wednesday.
On Wednesday, the state reported a total of 932,140 PCR tests, a single-day increase of 8,062.
On Wednesday, the state's overall positivity rate increased from 8.29% to 8.37%. The department says the seven-day average positivity is 12.2%.
On Wednesday, the state reported 882 COVID-19 hospitalizations, down from 928 on Tuesday. The hospitalization numbers from the state are delayed 72 hours to improve accuracy, so the number reported Wednesday reflects hospitalizations on Aug. 23.
In St. Louis County, there were 124 new COVID-19 cases and one new death Wednesday, bringing the totals in the county to 18,334 cases and 721 deaths.
In St. Louis, there were 37 newly reported COVID-19 cases and one new death Wednesday, bringing the totals in the city to 5,918 cases 188 deaths.
In St. Charles County, there were 95 new COVID-19 cases and no new deaths Wednesday, bringing the totals in the county to 5,431 cases and 106 deaths.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 2,417 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Jefferson County Wednesday, an increase of 66 from the number reported by the state health department Tuesday.
The Jefferson County Health Department's dashboard said there are 2,566 cases in the county, but that number includes 235 suspected COVID-19 cases. The county said 646 of the cases are active, including 177 at long-term care facilities. More than 1,000 of the cases in the county have been confirmed in August.
The county says 40 people have died from COVID-19, including 10 that were announced last week. There were no new deaths Wednesday.
