Missouri COVID-19 case count shows third day of triple-digit growth

The number of Missourians known to be infected with the novel coronavirus that has crippled much of the U.S. and world economy continued its rapid increase Saturday as the official state count increased by 168.

There are now 838 known infections in the state and 11 known deaths, one Friday in Camden County and the second death to be recorded in St. Charles County.

There is at least one case in 53 of the 116 local county health department jurisdictions.

The Columbia-Boone County Department of Health and Human Services reported Saturday that there were 44 confirmed coronavirus infections in Boone County. That is up two from Friday. There are 13 cases of known community transmission, which means the infection was contracted in a manner where the person involved could not identify close contact with a family member or other person known to be infected.

Callaway County on Saturday reported that it has identified community spread of the virus in two cases.

The state, which is slowly expanding its testing capacity, announced Saturday that health professionals who have close contact with suspected cases of COVID-19 disease and are showing symptoms such as fever, coughing or shortness of breath, are now eligible for testing. Previously, a test was only available if a person had traveled to an area known to have an outbreak and were showing symptoms or contact with a confirmed case and have symptoms.

Testing is still not available for people who show no symptoms, the department stated in the release.

Some of the most extensive testing has been in Boone County. Boone Hospital Center tested 47 people on Friday and 536 patients since March 12, the hospital stated in an email.

The drive-through testing site at the hospital has taken samples from 365 of those patients.

Boone Hospital, unlike many, is not yet facing a shortage of masks or other protective gear to protect workers and has no staffing issues, spokesman Ben Cornelius wrote in an email on Saturday.

“We currently have an adequate supply of all necessary PPE to protect patients and staff,” he wrote. “We are in a good place currently regarding staffing. At this time we have not had to look at alternative staffing sources.”

Along with the testing site set up by University of Missouri Health Care, the tests conducted in Boone County represent about 20 percent of the approximately 10,750 tests conducted by the state health lab and private labs since testing began in the state.

In St. Louis, hospitals have begun rationing protective equipment for health workers out of fear that supplies could run out. Nurses and other front-line medical workers at BJC HealthCare, SSM Health, Mercy and a veterans hospital told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that hospital leaders are asking some staff to reuse masks, put limits on sanitation materials and set new policies on use of protective gear.

“With the unknown of what’s coming, and knowing that we’re seeing places across the country running into shortages, we have to examine what all our options are — to use our supplies and our PPE when necessary and appropriate, conserving it when that is also appropriate,” Mercy spokesman Joe Poelker told the newspaper. “That’s a big task.”

A doctor at St. Mary’s Hospital in St. Louis tested positive and is quarantined at home, SSM Health said. A statement said the doctor has not seen patients at the hospital since March 16 and did not show symptoms while at work.

Confirmed cases have been reported since Friday at three additional nursing homes in the St. Louis region — one in Town and Country, one in St. Peters, and a veterans home in north St. Louis County, according to local media reports. On Thursday, confirmed cases were reported for four residents and two employees were at Life Care Center of St. Louis. Three residents and an employee also have tested positive at a facility in St. Charles.

St. Louis Blues television play-by-play announcer John Kelly has tested positive for the coronavirus, the Post-Dispatch reported.

Kelly, 59, was tested for it on March 17 and received the results Friday. Kelly initially was diagnosed with pneumonia but is feeling better now.

Nationally, the number of confirmed COVID-19 infections exceeded 115,000 Saturday afternoon, with 1,891 deaths in the United States caused by the virus. That is an increase of about 14,000 cases in less than 24 hours.

Worldwide, the number of people who are known to be infected also continued to grow rapidly, nearly 650,000, an increase of 57,000 in less than 24 hours. There are 30,049 deaths worldwide blamed on the disease that emerged late last year, a death rate of about 4.7 percent among people with confirmed infections.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.