July COVID numbers surpass pandemic peak from January

Local hospitals see increase in COVID patients, more deaths as pandemic proceeds
 
Hospitals in Greene County saw an uptick in the number of patients admitted for COVID-19 during the month of July.
According to information from the Greene County Board of Health’s Recovery Dashboard, linked to the Greene County website, the number of patients admitted to Greene County hospitals reached a peak of 230 on Jan. 4, 2021 and then began to decline, reaching a low of 22 on April 7.
The numbers held steady there until May, when the hospitals began to see another increase in the number of patients being admitted for COVID; that amount peaked at 271 on July 23. As of press time, there were 261 patients admitted to Greene County hospitals for COVID-19.
The Recovery Dashboard also showed that, as of press time, there was a total of 38,541 cases of COVID-19 in Greene County. Out of those, 33,939 were released from isolation, while there were 4,110 active cases. Also, the dashboard showed that 493 people in Greene County died of COVID- 19.
Local Emergency Declared In response to the growing number of COVID cases, the Greene County Commission approved a Declaration of Local Emergency. In a press release, the county commission described the declaration as a “means to help expedite area responses allowed by law during a crisis.” “More specifically,” the press release stated, “it opens additional channels for the director of the Springfield-Greene County Health Department and the director the Springfield- Greene County Office of Emergency Management to obtain necessary equipment and supplies needed for the health and welfare of citizens, as well as seek reimbursement from state and federal sources for these efforts.”
The commission emphasized in the press release that the declaration was not a “stay-at-home order or a masking mandate.”
““COVID-19 continues to hit our community hard and I want to commend the ongoing efforts by our hospitals and health care workers, health department, emergency management and the support we are receiving at the state level to respond to this crisis,” Presiding Commissioner Bob Dixon was quoted as saying in the press release. “The Greene County Commission wants to continue to be a partner in these efforts and this declaration is one way we can do that.”
The declaration remains in effect until rescinded by the county commission.
More information is available by going online to www.greenecountymo.gov and clicking on the “Coronavirus Information” link.