During the Pettis County COVID-19 Task Force meeting on Monday, November 15, it was reported an increase of 101 positive cases occurred in the past week and 197 cases in the past two weeks.

The Department of Health and Senior Service’s website reports Pettis County as having a positivity rate of 9.5 percent for the past seven days, which is an increase from 7.6% for the last week with PCR testing.

According to a press release, the group with the highest number of new cases is reported as 13 to 18-year-olds with 23 cases, followed by five to 12-year-olds with a total of 16 positive cases; 40 to 44-year-olds had nine recorded cases; and 13 to 18-year-olds with 11. Health officials say there were 50 individuals infant to 18 with positive cases reported in the week time period.

The health center says there are eight individuals hospitalized at Bothwell as compared to three last week.

Health officials say all inpatients will be tested upon admission to the health center. The DHSS website now reports 105 deaths in Pettis County up from 104 last week. Reducing the number of COVID patients in the hospital is very important to have critical resources available for non-COVID cases.