ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis County health officials said Monday that Missouri’s most populous county has recorded a record high for average new daily COVID-19 infections in the last seven days.
The rolling seven-day average of new confirmed COVID-19 cases rose to 1,696, it’s highest average since March 2020 and a 129.7% increase from last week, the county Department of Public Health said in a news release. The positivity rate is at just over 23%, which is also a record high.
“I don’t see this getting better in the next week or two, and I don’t think anyone else in the public health world or the health system is expecting it to get better anytime soon,” County Executive Sam Page said in a news conference Monday. “We have a problem.”
The Missouri Department of Health reported Monday that the state has averaged 5,010 confirmed cases per day in the last seven days, with 1,237 probable daily new cases. That’s 35,067 new confirmed cases and 8,663 probable cases in the last week. The state’s positivity rate is 27.3%.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force also announced Monday that the four largest hospital systems in the St. Louis region has confirmed 964 new cases of COVID-19, more than the previous high of 962 patients on Dec. 1, 2020, with 315 of those patients fully vaccinated.
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The St. Louis County health department also warned that children, most of whom are not vaccinated, are particularly vulnerable. At least 4,518 children in St. Louis County tested positive for COVID-19 in December, officials said. As of Monday, 54 children were hospitalized with the virus, up from 26 on Thursday.
The surge in cases prompted in part by the omicron variant and holiday gatherings has led to a sharp increase in demand for COVID-19 tests, including free at-home test kits offered by the state, the state health department said in a news release Sunday.
The state had 6,500 requests for the kits since it started offering them in May. But in December, that number increased to 15,000, spokeswoman Lisa Cox said.
The state is continuing drive-through COVID-19 testing and is working to establish more locations for testing in St. Louis and Kansas City this week, according to the release.
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