Missouri Governor Mike Parson said Wednesday that while COVID-19 isn’t finished with the state, the COVID-19 crisis is over in the state.

During an afternoon news conference, Parson announced that the state will transition to an endemic recovery phase, meaning that the state will treat COVID-19 like it does other viruses, effective on Friday.

In this new phase, universal contact tracing will end, along with daily reporting of figures related to positivity rates, testing, and vaccinated persons. That data will now be available on a weekly basis.

“The COVID-19 crisis is over in the state of Missouri,” Parson said, while he and Department of Health and Senior Services Acting Director Paula Nickelson acknowledged the potential for new variants and surges.

Through Tuesday, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), the state has recorded 1,131,632 cumulative cases of SARS-CoV-2—an increase of 168 positive cases (PCR testing only)—and 16,134 total deaths as of Tuesday, March 29, an increase of 89 from the day prior. That’s a case fatality rate of 1.43%.

It’s important to keep in mind that not all cases and deaths announced on a particular day occurred in the last 24 hours.

Through Tuesday, the state has administered 14,141 doses—including booster shots—of the vaccine in the last 7 days (this metric is subject to a delay, meaning the last three days are not factored in). The highest vaccination rates are among people over 65.

Vaccination remains the safest way to achieve herd immunity. Herd immunity for COVID-19 requires 80% to 90% of the population to have immunity, either by vaccination or recovery from the virus.

State health officials report 63.6% of the total population has received at least one dose of the vaccine. Approximately 74.6% of all adults 18 years of age and older have initiated the process.

The length of your fingers may determine how sick you get from COVID-19
But how many have tested positive and died from COVID after getting all their shots?

8.11% of 3.47 million fully vaccinated Missourians (or 281,679 people) have tested positive for COVID-19 since Jan. 1, 2021. And 1,868 people (or 0.05%) of those vaccinated individuals have died from the virus.

(Story by Kevin Held and Gregg Palermo, Ozarks First)