SPRINGFIELD, Mo (KY3) – Springfield-Greene County Health Department reported 37 more COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday. 24 of the 37 deaths reported in the last week took place in December; 13 took place in January.
Kathryn Wall with the Springfield-Greene County Health Department said the reason for the delayed reporting is that a thorough investigation must be completed to determine the involvement of COVID-19 in each death.
“This idea that anyone who dies with COVID-19 is considered a COVID-19 death is not the case,” Wall said. “We count as COVID-19 deaths only those that are found to be COVID-19 was a substantial reason for their passing.”
Health leaders listed the victims:
- A 40-year-old man with no underlying health conditions
- Two 50-year-old men
- A 60-year-old man
- A woman over 60 years old
- Four 70-year-old men
- Two 70-year-old women
- Ten 80-year-old men
- Six women in their 80s
- Five 90-year-old men
- Three 90-year-old women
- A 100-year-old man
- A woman over 100 years old
“We continue to hear this misconception that this is just something, a disease, that affects those who are very old or very ill,” Wall said. “This week’s numbers reflected that this is not the case and we need people to remember to take this seriously. “
Wall said that although the number of deaths in January so far is lower than in the first 20 days of December, it does not necessarily mean that the virus will be released.
“It’s hard to put your finger on it and trust it, because deaths are an indicator of delay,” Wall said. “We don’t know for a long time, someone is testing positive and what happened as a result.”
Local hospitals report fewer COVID-19 hospitalizations at this time. CoxHealth CEO Steve Edwards posted on Twitter on Wednesday that Cox’s Springfield locations have fewer than 100 COVID-19 patients hospitalized right now.
Mercy Hospital tells KY3 it has 55 COVID-19 patients hospitalized on Wednesday. This is almost half of what the hospital reported to KY3 at the end of December.
“Ideally, our hope is because we are beginning to see the number of these cases decline, we are beginning to see that hospitalizations are declining, which is an indicator that these deaths will be reduced, but we cannot be sure.” Zise Wall.
She said the health department hopes the vaccine already has an impact, but wants people to know it shouldn’t be guarded yet.
Wall said that we are about a week away from the one-year anniversary of the first press release of the COVID-19 health department. At that moment, they were preparing for the moment when the virus would make its way to Missouri. He is now working on plans to distribute the vaccine to the public.
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