Jefferson County Health Department reported a record 200 new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours today bringing the total case count to 7,318. The seven-day average new cases per day topped out at 142.86 with a County test positivity rate of 23% on November 5th.
“The numbers highlight a particularly alarming trend just before the holidays,” states director Kelley Vollmar. “We are experiencing levels of community transmission and resulting new cases that have not been experienced previously in the pandemic for our County.” Vollmar continues, “This is particularly concerning right as we start the holiday season where thousands of residents are expected to travel and spend time with vulnerable loved ones.”
An example of the impact holiday gatherings can present can be found in three separate clusters of cases identified this week tied to three separate Halloween parties over the weekend. One gathering has already been tied to ten separate positive tests in different family units. “Informal social gatherings, like Halloween parties, are ideal transmission sites for the virus because people let their guard down. They usually don’t social distance or wear a mask because they are with people they know and presume to be safe exposures.”
Jefferson County Health Department recently contracted with Maximus, a third-party vendor approved by Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services for assistance with case investigation and contact tracing. JCHD case investigators can currently complete an average of 40 cases per day depending on the circumstances of the cases. The significant increase in cases has created a substantial backlog of cases left for investigation. The Maximus contract will add 30 case investigators to work 7 days a week, which will increase capacity to complete approximately 125 investigations per day. Those contracted investigators will begin phasing in starting November 18th and will be fully implemented by the Thanksgiving holiday.
JCHD resources have had to be prioritized to meet the state ordered mandates to complete case investigation for school age youth, cases associated with a school exposure, individuals 65+ years old, and cases associated with a long term care facility. Cases that do not fall into these mandated groups are not currently able to be investigated before the individual’s isolation period ends. “It is imperative that anyone that receives a positive COVID-19 test result self-isolate and notify individuals who may be contacts so that they can quarantine per CDC guidelines, even if they are not directly contacted by the health department,” states director Vollmar. Guidance for CDC isolation and quarantine can be found at: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/isolation.html and https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/quarantine.html.
Jefferson County Health Department also provides rapid COVID-19 testing at their Arnold office location. Residents can register for testing on the health department website. The demand for testing is another area that is exceeding resource capacity. The testing team received over 100 requests for test in the last 24 hours. The team can only complete 20 tests per day with current resources. Other testing sites are available within the county and can be found on the health department website.
Protective measures continue to demonstrate effectiveness in the face of widespread, uncontrolled community transmission. St. Louis City and St. Louis County are experiencing test positivity rates of 11.4% and 10.4% respectively with community mask mandates and additional restrictions in place. The surrounding counties of Jefferson, Franklin and St. Charles (non-restriction counties) all have twice the positivity rates of St. Louis City and County at 23%, 21.6% and 20.6% respectively. Vollmar states, “Regardless of whether a mandate is in place in a community or not, adoption of individual protection measures such as face masks, social distancing, good hygiene and staying home when experiencing symptoms is demonstrated to make an impact by these numbers.”
“The capacity of the public health system has been exceeded and the hospital systems are getting closer to capacity each day,” states Kelley Vollmar. “The public health and healthcare systems have been trying to warn the community for weeks that this day would come. The virus is real. The weight now rests on residents taking personal responsibility for slowing the spread of the virus. Only through mass adoption of individual protective measures will we see a change in the trajectory of the growth of cases through the end of the year.”