RED Status | Total new cases per 100,000 persons in past 7 days: 293.78 | Positivity Rate: 14.7%
CDC Week 35 Epidemiological Analysis: (from JCHD Epidemiologist, Sara Wilton)
This week the county remains in the RED/highest transmission level with a weekly case count of 661 confirmed and probable cases and a positivity rate of 14.7%. This week our highest percent increase in cases came from our 0-9- and 10-19-year age groups.
The highest ever weekly case count for the 0-19 group occurred back in November 2020, in which 217 cases occurred within a single week. This week is not far off from that total with a weekly case count of 196 new cases during week 35.
Our youth population experienced an 83.1% increase in cases from week 34 to 35. This was during the first week of school. The only other time we saw this many youth cases in one week was the week of 11/8/2020, which was also the same week we had our highest ever weekly case count as a whole in the county at 1,537 cases.
Our youth cases made up 29.7% of our total weekly cases during week 35. Not once in 2020 did our youth cases account for this much of our weekly case count. In fact, during the entire 2020 year, the youth cases never made up more than 16% of the weekly cases. Within the past 3 months, the youth cases have consistently been accounting for 17% or more of our weekly cases.
Finally, there have been 5 pediatric deaths in the St. Louis area due to Covid. This is very concerning seeing our youth cases increase so much, alongside the reminder that kids are not invincible and immune to this virus. CDC has a graph on their Covid hospitalization data website that shows underlying medical conditions for those cases reported during March 1, 2020-June 30, 2021. This data shows 46% of pediatric patients hospitalized for Covid had no known underlying health conditions. COVID-19 Hospitalizations (cdc.gov)
Due to the holiday and backlog of positive cases, our vaccine report for week 35 has not been published yet due to pending data. We will receive the rest of the information in the next day or two and will provide vaccination numbers for the county in an update email.
CDC Week 35 Epi Report:
COVID-19 Case Updates: (as of 9/8/2021)
Total Cases: 28,661
Active Cases: 866
Total Deaths: 283
5 additional deaths to report, all community based
Female, 70’s
Male, 70’s
2 Females, 80’s
Male, 90’s