By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph health officials report four new COVID-19 related deaths in Buchanan County just since Monday. The deaths were a man in his 30s and three women - one in her 60s, one in her 80s and one in her 90s.
That brings the Buchanan County virus death toll up to 234 since the pandemic began.
In addition, another 202 cases were reported in the county just since Monday - 74 on Tuesday, 76 on Wednesday and 52 Thursday. Mosaic Life Care has also seen an uptick in COVID hospitalizations.
Mosaic is treating 75 COVID patients - 66 in St. Joseph, six in Maryville and three in Albany.
The St. Joseph Health Department has reported 1030 cases in Buchanan County so far in December - that exceeds the 1004 cases reported in the entire month of November.
Elsewhere, Atchison County, Missouri's 47 percent positivity rate over the last seven days ranks No. 1 among all counties in the state. Holt County's 35 percent positivity rate over the last week is third highest.
Gentry County has a new-case rate of 578 per 100,000 people over the last week. That rate is the highest in the state currently.