The number of active COVID-19 cases in Boone County has almost doubled over the last week as the positivity rate climbed to an all-time high of 21.3% from Oct. 30 to Nov. 5.
On Monday, the county had 958 active cases, a 98.7% increase since the week prior, when the county had 482 active cases.
Contact tracers are eight days behind due to this exponential increase in cases, according to the Boone County COVID-19 Information Hub.
There have been 7,444 total cases in Boone County since the start of the pandemic. On Monday, 1,790 contacts were in quarantine.
Two more people died of COVID-19 in Boone County last week, bringing the total number of deaths in the county to 18.
As of Monday, there were 142 people hospitalized with COVID-19, which is the highest number of hospitalizations due to the virus that the county has seen. Of the people hospitalized, 27 were Boone County citizens.
The recent spike in cases has put pressure on Boone County hospitals, which serve the surrounding counties as well. Boone Hospital Center has reached maximum capacity several times in recent weeks and is planning to expand the number of beds in its COVID-19 unit.
Boone County hospitals are currently working with the health department on how to accurately measure the capacity of local hospitals in the county's COVID-19 Information Hub.
MU Health Care had 54 inpatients with COVID-19 Monday, and Boone Hospital Center had 43 positive inpatients. Truman Veterans' Hospital had 30 veteran inpatients with COVID-19, according to Jeff Hoelscher, public relations officer for the hospital.
MU had 114 active student cases Monday and 40 active cases among faculty and staff.
After resuming in-person instruction, seven Columbia Public Schools returned to virtual learning last week because of a rise in student COVID-19 cases and lack of staff.
Because of the recent increase in cases, the Columbia Police Department announced Friday it plans to reduce in-person contact.