SPRINGFIELD, Mo (KY3) – The Springfield-Greene County Department of Health reported 37 more COVID-19 deaths Wednesday. 24 of the 37 deaths reported last week occurred in December; 13 occurred in January.
Kathryn Wall, with the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, said the reason for the delayed notification 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 death by COVID-19 is not like that,” Wall said. “We only count as deaths from COVID-19 those people who find that COVID-19 was a substantial reason for their passing.”
Health leaders listed the victims:
- A man in his 40s who had no underlying disease
- Two men in their fifties
- A man in his 60s
- A woman in her 60s
- Four men in their 70s
- Two women about 70 years old
- Ten men in their eighties
- Six women in their eighties
- Five 90-year-old men
- Three 90-year-old women
- A hundred year old man
- A woman of about 100 years
“We continue to hear this misconception that this is just one thing, a disease, that affects those who are very old or very sick,” Wall said. “This week’s figures reflect that’s not the case and we need people to remember it to take it seriously.”
Wall said that while so far the death toll in January is lower than that recorded during the first 20 days of December, it does not necessarily mean the virus will spread.
“It’s hard to put a finger on it and have confidence, because deaths are a lagging indicator,” Wall said. “We don’t know for a long time if anyone is positive and what happened as a result.”
Local hospitals are now reporting fewer COVID-19 hospitalizations. CoxHealth CEO Steve Edwards tweeted Wednesday Cox’s Springfield locations have fewer than 100 COVID-19 patients hospitalized right now.
Mercy Hospital tells KY3 it has 55 COVID-19 patients admitted Wednesday. That’s almost half of what the hospital reported to KY3 in late December.
“Ideally, our hope is that we start to see case numbers decrease, we start to see hospitalizations decrease that this is an indicator that these deaths will also decrease, but we just can’t be sure.” Wall said.
He said the health department hopes the vaccine will already have an impact, but he wants people to know he shouldn’t lower his guard yet.
Wall said we are just one week away from the first anniversary of the health department’s first COVID-19 press release. At that time they were preparing when the virus would head to Missouri. They are now working on plans to distribute the vaccine to the public.
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