Cape County faring better than state with coronavirus

Cape Girardeau Public Health Center officials released data Wednesday showing the county’s population is faring better against COVID-19 in some respects than the state’s population as a whole.

The county’s positivity rate, for example, is 5.7% compared to 9.9% for the state. Antibody tests, which track whether someone has had the virus, have showed a 1.1% positivity rate in the county, while 3.7% of such tests across the state have been positive.

Testing in the county has reached 16.4% of the population, according to the county’s report.

The report said county officials have confirmed 587 cases of the disease associated with coronavirus, up 38 from last week. Probable cases were at 47, up three from the previous week.

Hospitalizations from the disease are at 6.2% for the county’s residents, up eight from last week.

Of those found to have the virus, those who showed no symptoms comprised 4%.

Eighty-eight percent of those with the virus have recovered. Eleven percent of the cases remain active.

New cases in region

Scott County officials reported 13 new virus cases Wednesday, pushing the county’s total to 361. Two hundred seventy-four patients have recovered from the virus, while 74 cases remain active and 13 county residents have died from the virus.

Bollinger County, Missouri, reported one new case — 64 total, 53 recoveries, zero deaths.

In Illinois, Union County reported two new cases (291 total, 186 recoveries, 20 deaths), and Alexander County reported three new cases (36 total, 23 recoveries, zero deaths).