By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph health officials continue to report rising levels of COVID-19 in Buchanan County.
An additional 106 new cases have been reported just since Monday, according to the St. Joseph health department.
There have now been 169 cases in the county in just the last seven days. Mosaic Life Care is treating 16 COVID patients - all at the St. Joseph hospital.
The vaccination rate in Buchanan County remains low. Just 20.8 percent of the population has initiated vaccination and only 18.9 percent have completed it.
The rapidly spreading Delta variant has been confirmed in several mostly rural counties in northern Missouri. Grundy, Worth, Livingston, Linn and a few other counties have seen a recent rise in cases due to the highly transmissible variant and low vaccination rates in those areas.
Cases and hospitalizations are also on the rise in southwest Missouri, particularly in and around Springfield.
The Delta variant now accounts for 29 percent of all active cases in Missouri - more than any other state in the country.