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Dashboard Spotlight

COVID-19 Cases Show Potential Signs Of Leveling, Hospitalizations Remain Elevated

Staff Contact: Mat Reidhead or Jackie Gatz

As experienced in other countries and parts of the U.S., cases fueled by the highly transmissible Omicron variant are showing early signs of departure as precipitously as they arrived in Missouri. While data on test results and associated new COVID-19 cases are subject to reporting delays and incompleteness due to the proliferation of over-the-counter rapid tests, the seven-day moving average number of new confirmed and probable cases by test date is trending downward across Missouri’s regions.

Indications of declining community spread are most reliable in the state’s most populous regions that have been hardest hit by extreme volumes of COVID-19 hospitalizations. The seven-day average number of new daily cases has fallen for 14 consecutive days in the St. Louis region and for eight consecutive days in the Kansas City region. This signal is welcome news to hospitals facing record patient surges amid record staffing challenges — new COVID-19 cases precede hospital admissions by approximately seven days and ICU admissions by 14 days. Currently, the St. Louis region has 1,684 patients hospitalized with suspected and confirmed COVID-19 (136% of peak 2020-2021 levels), while hospitals in the Kansas City region are caring for 855 patients (119% of previous peak surge).

All Missourians have a stake in helping maintain access to hospital care when it is needed. The current surge, coupled with severe staffing challenges, is constraining hospitals’ capacity to provide care. Masking, hand hygiene and physical distancing will reduce infection. Vaccination — and boosters for vaccinated Missourians — will protect individuals and communities.