St. Louis area sees one-day dip in new coronavirus hospitalizations, but still a ‘troubling’ trend – STLtoday.com

Newly announced coronavirus hospitalizations in the St. Louis region dipped Wednesday compared to the day before, but are still part of a troubling trend, according to area health officials.

Local hospitals reported admissions of 39 new cases Wednesday a drop from 55 registered the day before. That total, along with others from recent days, reaches a level not seen since the early stages of the pandemic.

It builds on the narrative that we have too much virus circulating in our communities, said Dr. Alex Garza, head of the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force, at his Wednesday press conference. Were far from out of the woods.

The regions seven-day moving average for new hospitalizations nudged from 45 to 44.

Any time especially that rolling seven-day admissions gets above 40, we know that that is in our red zone," said Garza. "Thats when we start to be really concerned about the number of patients that are showing up in our healthcare systems.

St. Louis County reported 286 new cases of the virus in the past 24 hours. Statewide, the county has been Missouris leading source of known cases, accounting for 14,074, so far.

Garza reiterated regular messages about the importance of key behaviors, such as social distancing, wearing masks, and diligent hand washing. Only strict, widespread adherence to those practices, he explained, will help local numbers improve to safer levels.

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St. Louis area sees one-day dip in new coronavirus hospitalizations, but still a 'troubling' trend - STLtoday.com