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ACROSS MO
ACROSS MISSOURI Ventilator Shortage As Missouri
Virus Hospitalizations Spike
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MISSION, Kansas (AP) — The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients jumped by nearly 27% over the Fourth of July weekend in a hardhit area of Missouri where immunization rates are low, leading to a temporary ventilator shortfall and a public call for help from respiratory therapists.
The Delta variant, first identified in India, is spreading rapidly, straining hospitals in Springfield and raising fresh fears that the situation could soon grow worse as holiday gatherings seed fresh cases. Missouri leads the nation with the most new cases per capita in the past 14 days.
As of Monday, CoxHealth and the city’s other hospital, Mercy Springfield, were treating 213 COVID-19 patients, up from 168 on Friday. As recently as May 24, the two hospitals had just 31 patients.
“After what we’ve seen in the last month everyone is just holding their breath, especially after a holiday weekend like this, knowing that there were large gatherings,” said Erik Frederick, the chief administrative officer of Mercy Springfield.
Many communities that held off on Fourth of July festivities last year held them this year.
Republican Gov. Mike Parson tweeted a picture of himself at a fireworks celebration in the tourist town of Branson, a large crowd behind him. In the surrounding county, just 29.3% of residents have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot, state data shows. That is below the state rate of 44.7% and the national rate of 54.7% but not unlike several other southwest Missouri communities. Some have vaccination rates in the teens.
Parson last week urged people to get vaccinated. But he has consistently declined to enact restrictions to control the spread of the virus, instead asking residents to take “personal responsibility.” Missouri never had a mask mandate, and Parson signed a law last month placing limits on public health restrictions and barring governments from requiring proof of vaccination to use public facilities and transportation.
His communication staff didn't immediately return an email Monday from The Associated Press. Nor did the spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
CoxHealth in Springfield has been transferring out four or five patients a day for the past week to 10 days as it tries to bring in more traveling nurses to help, said Ashley Kimberling Casad, vice president of clinical services at the hospital.
“Our projections are only showing us continuing to go up,” she said, noting that positivity rates are spiking. “We generally see an increase in hospitalizations about two weeks after big events, so knowing it was the holiday weekend and probably lots of people spent time with family and friends and with our vaccination rates so low, we are going to expect that in two weeks it gets really, really busy.”
The situation is complication because the hospital has only about onethird of the 280 traveling nurses it had at the peak of the winter surge and is working through a backlog of patients who deferred routine care during the surge. That means it can't handle as many COVID-19 patients as it once could.
Kimberling Casad said traveling nurses are also now harder to come by.
“They worked really hard all winter and spring and made good money so they want to take off this summer and get to spend it with their family and have fun, so we have a lot of positions posted for traveling nurses, but we are just having a harder time getting them in," she said.
So far, Mercy Springfield has been able to avoid transfers, but the situation worsened so quickly that it ran out of ventilators at one point over the weekend and had to borrow more, said Frederick.
“Luckily we got some in before we had another patient come in who required it so we were able to keep moving and have a surplus on hand should we need it, because we escalated ventilators very quickly," he said. “We went from the 30s to the 40s to almost 50 over about 72 hours."
In a tweet, he urged any respiratory therapist to “call us.”
Frederick said projections show its patient count continuing to climb through early August before the numbers gradually begin to fall slowly through October.
HIGHLIGHTS WITH HEGEMAN
12th District State Sen. Dan Hegeman Room 332, State Capitol Jefferson City, MO 65101 Phone: 573-751-1415 dan.hegeman@senate.mo.gov
CELEBRATING OUR INDEPENDENCE
On July 4, citizens throughout our great nation will join together in celebration of the United States of America’s 245th birthday. As we stand on the brink of another year in the life of our comparatively young nation, I ask everyone to join me in reflecting on how far we have come as an American people and what work remains to be done to ensure our precious freedoms are safeguarded for future generations. Nearly two and a half centuries ago, 56 bold revolutionaries signed their names to the Declaration of Independence, knowingly risking their lives in order to throw off the bonds of tyranny and oppression to assert their freedom. Today, nearly 250 years after that tumultuous summer, the bravery our Founders demonstrated — their willingness to pay the ultimate sacrifice in order to live in a free nation — has continued on through the years in all those who have answered the call to protect and defend our great land. Although the America of today might look different than it did back in 1776, the celebration of our independence is still marked in much the same way as it has always been, with concerts, parades and grand fireworks. Perhaps most importantly, Independence Day continues to be a day where we, as a united people, come together to reflect on how blessed we are to call “the land of the free” home. As we once again celebrate our independence, surrounded by family and friends, let us take special care to remember the sacrifices and bravery of the individuals who have defended our nation throughout history and who continue to fight for our freedom at home and abroad.
I hope you and your loved ones have a very safe, enjoyable and patriotic Independence Day. If you know or see a veteran or a member of our Armed Forces, please thank them for their service. God bless your family, and God bless the United States of America. As always, please feel free to call, email or write with your ideas or concerns. My Capitol office number is (573) 751-1415, my email is dan.hegeman@senate.mo.g ov and my mailing address is Room 332, State Capitol Building, Jefferson City, MO 65101.
T The Capitol Re ep po ortt
REP. RUSTY BLACK Room 115
State Capitol Building 201 W. Capitol Avenue Jefferson City, MO 65101
E-mail: rusty.black@house.mo.gov 573-751-2917 NEWS FROM THE SEVENTH DISTRICT
Hello 7th District:
We have had a pretty busy last few weeks. To start, the Legislative Freshmen Tour made a stop in Chillicothe and I had the privilege to show them around. Big thank you to all of our table hosts and everyone that helped with the tour to make it go as smoothly as it did.
On June 24th FFA members from all across our state came to the Capitol to participate in HYPE (Helping Youth Prepare for Excellence) Academy. We had two from the 7th district: Clara Leaman (Chillicothe) and Colton Roy (Trenton). HYPE participants were able to do mock committee meetings in the following topics: Waterways Infrastructure, Eminent Domain, Resetting the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS), Estate Planning & Taxes and finally Ag Inspections of CAFOS.
Due to the work happening in the Capitol, hearing rooms were not available to use for committee meetings. I worked with staff to help secure space to use-this allowed FFA members to experience the Capitol as they debated issues rather than a hotel meeting room. I also served as a Chairperson during the mock testimony. State Representatives and State Senators attempted to let the HYPE academy members participate in as true to life “committee meetings” as possible. I was also able to enjoy lunch with the HYPE participants.
As always, if you have any questions, comments or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact my office at the following: (Phone): 573-751-2917) (Email): rusty.black@house.mo.gov
Social Media:
Twitter: @rep_rusty
Facebook: Rusty Black
My legislative assistant, Ashley Wright, or I will be happy to assist in any way that we can. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to serve the 7th District of the Missouri House of Representatives.
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MO BRIEFS Drowning In Jackson City Park Lake
JACKSON, Mo. (AP) — Officials in southwestern Missouri are investigating after a man drowned in a lake at Jackson City Park over the weekend.
Firefighters were already at the park Sunday night to monitor a fireworks show when they were told a man had entered the lake and not come out, Jackson Fire Department Capt. Robert Greif told KFVS.
Rescue workers found the 58-year-old man’s body hours later, around 1:30 a.m. Monday. The man’s name had not been released by Tuesday morning.
The man's death comes at the state deals with a rising number of drownings this year. Missouri officials say at least 17 people drowned or died in boating accidents in Missouri in June, more than during any previous June in the last decade.
3 Shot In Fireworks Altercation
LEMAY, Mo. (AP) — A suburban St. Louis man fired at a group of people shooting off fireworks for the Fourth of July, wounding a 9-year-old boy and two women, authorities say.
Twenty-seven-year-old Donald Meek, who lives in the Lemay area, was booked early Monday into the St. Louis County Justice Center on three counts each of second-degree assault and armed criminal action. Bond is set at $200,000, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
Police said Meek brandished a .45-caliber weapon after an argument and minor physical altercation. The victims already were injured when police went to the home in response to a report of fireworks.
One of the women and the boy required hospitalization for their injuries; the other woman was treated and released.
As of Monday, at least 51 children had been injured or killed by gunfire this year in the St. Louis region.
Sanford Clark, 85, Dies Of COVID
JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — Rockabilly and country performer Sanford Clark, who had a Top 10 hit with “The Fool” in 1956, has died in a Missouri hospital from COVID-19. He was 85.
Clark died Sunday at Mercy Hospital in Joplin, where he had been receiving cancer treatment before he contracted the coronavirus, his publicist and fellow performer Johnny Vallis said Monday.
Clark was born on Oct. 24, 1935, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and raised in Phoenix, where he first began performing in the early 1950s. “The Fool” reached No. 7 on the Billboard Top 100. The song was later recorded by several other well-known artists, including Elvis Presley and The Animals.
Presley actually recorded the song twice, the first time as part of his personal recordings while he was serving in the Army, then again for professional release in the 1970s, Vallis said.
Clark recorded several other songs in the 1950s and 1960s that saw minor success before he left the music business to work in construction, though he occasionally recorded in later decades on his own label, Desert Sun Records.
Sanford is survived by his wife, Marsha, and several children.
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