Ripley County officials announced Thursday, Sept. 30, two new confirmed deaths of county residents who suffered from COVID-19 among other underlying conditions.
County coroner Mike Jackson and health center director Tammy Cosgrove made the announcement. The deaths were the eighth and ninth to be confirmed in the county since Sept. 13.
As of Sept. 30, Ripley County has confirmed 1,059 new cases of COVID-19 during 2021 with 26 deaths. During 2020, Ripley County had 722 cases and 11 confirmed deaths.
The numbers of new cases in the past week included 11 Saturday, nine Monday, six Tuesday, six Wednesday, and 10 Thursday.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services announced Sept. 30 the state’s total of confirmed COVID-19 cases reached 676,734 on Thursday, which is an increase of 1,385 confirmed cases. The state also reported there have been 142,999 possible antigen cases to date.
The state reported there have been 7,936 positive cases over the last seven days and an average of 1,134 cases a day. The state said there have now been 11,493 deaths since the start of the outbreak. The state noted that deaths are often reported with a delay.
The delta variant of the virus is believed to be responsible for much of the spread in Missouri. Officials also cite low vaccination rates, especially in rural areas.
The state also reported there were 1,603 hospitalizations associated with COVID. Remaining hospital bed capacity is at 32 percent. Remaining ICU bed capacity is at 20 percent. The state says there are 421 patients in the ICU as of Sept. 27.
The overall seven-day positivity rate for the state is 8.8 percent, according to the MDHSS. The highest was 23.1 percent in November 2020.
The state said it has administered 6,082,955 vaccine doses, 3,292,272 people have initiated vaccination (or received one dose) and 2,924,307 people have received a second dose. Overall, the state said 53.6 percent of the population has received at least one dose and 47.6 percent have completed vaccination.
The state reported it had administered 65,455 in the past seven days for an average of 9,351 per day.
Missouri does not list how many people have recovered from COVID-19.