Both the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force and St. Louis County Executive Dr. Sam Page have called for everyone to get on board with simple measures to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus and record numbers of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the area. Those measures include always wearing a mask whether the area you live in has a mask mandate or not, social distancing of at least six feet from other people, avoiding gatherings with persons who don’t live with you, going only where you need to go; and frequent and thorough handwashing. Enough of that is not happening, and the COVID-19 case numbers reflect just that – on the Missouri and Illinois side of the greater St. Louis area.
Rising numbers forced Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker to reinstate tiers of COVID-19 health mitigations in every region of the state. On the morning of November 3, Illinois reported 423,502 COVID-19 cases with 9,810 deaths, according to Illinois Dept. of Public Health data.
The four major hospital systems that comprise the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force report all-time high numbers for seven-day moving average of hospitalizations and a very steep climb in cases over time.
“The number 61 – that is our rolling seven-day average, and that is the highest it’s ever been in the course of the pandemic,” said Dr. Alex Garza, incident commander of the Task Force. “So, we’ve entered this phase of accelerated growth, both in cases and admissions, and I would suspect that this high point will not stand, given the increase in cases that we’re witnessing.”
On Monday, Nov. 2, the Task Force reported 456 COVID-19 hospitalizations, the highest number since May 6. “I don’t believe that this is going to stabilize in the near future and will most likely continue at its upward pace,” Garza added. “If we remain on this trajectory, that is, if we don’t interrupt transmission of the virus, slow it down, any of those things – that we’ll reach or surpass that high mark around the second week of November, which is concerning, given the holiday season coming up.”
At his Monday morning COVID-19 press briefing, St. Louis County Executive Dr. Sam Page stressed the crucial need to accept and act upon the advice of the health care community to help curb the coronavirus spread.
“Leaders of our health care facilities have been sounding an alarm for weeks. We are on a fast track to a crisis, and the only thing that will keep it from getting worse is for everyone to do what they can to keep the virus from spreading in our community,” Page said. “That means, wear a mask, work from home when possible, wash your hands frequently, avoid gatherings and social distance everywhere you go. That means work, that means in a classroom, that means, in an office, in the grocery store.”
Eight months into this pandemic and everyone is weary, especially medical and essential workers who are taking care of everyone else in the community. However, from health precautions we can’t slack, because COVID-19 is not a slacker.
“We are seeing number jump because small groups are gathering, and people are hanging out. More people are becoming complacent about the public health orders,” Page said. “I get it. It’s been a very long eight months, but we have to hang in this together.”
Page reports 327 new cases per day in St. Louis County, and said without wider compliance to masking and social distancing orders, he may have to revisit its public health orders.
“This has been an election season like no other. It’s my hope, when the ballots are cast, we can all come together. Division weakens us as a country. With a unified front as COVID-19 rages on, it’s going to take more and more of our patience. More and more people will be sickened,” Page said. “We have the immense power to make a difference in following the guidelines that can keep us safe to allow our businesses to continue to operate safely, and to allow our kids to have a chance at having an in-classroom learning.”
Garza said rural areas are experiencing COVID-19 growth, although some numbers are going up in urban areas as well.
“Most of those counties that are experiencing increased growth week over week are in those outlying communities, such as Warren, Franklin and Lincoln counties. There was less growth week over week in some of the other counties, but those numbers are still high,” Garza said, adding that the four ZIP codes with the highest increases in coronavirus cases are found in “Oakville, Arnold and Mehlville, and then St. Peters, New Haven and Webster Groves.”
This week, Franklin County reported the youngest COVID-19 death in Missouri, he was an 8th-grader, reported to be the first child in the state to succumb to the virus.
Public health orders designed to protect everyone cannot do so without adherence. Just wear a mask, keeping your distance from others and frequent handwashing can stem the monster wave of COVID-19 that no one wants to ride.
“We just can’t continue on this track. Some of our hospitals are already at capacity and some are even over capacity, and they’re having to make room by slowing down some elective procedures and doing other things,” Garza said. “Now, we don’t want to go back to ‘shelter in place,’ but in order to make sure that that doesn’t happen, we have to get the virus under control.”
Global numbers on the COVID-19 pandemic by Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center on the morning of Election Day Nov. 3 reported 47,007,194 cases and 1,208,358 deaths. For the U.S. it reported 9,296,159 cases with 231,591 deaths – and counting.