Cape Girardeau County records first COVID-19 death

COVID-19’s intrusion into life in Cape Girardeau and the surrounding area became more poignant Tuesday as officials with the county’s Public Health Center reported the first death because of the virus.

The only detail released on Cape Girardeau County resident was the person was between 80 and 89 years old. No other information about the person was released because of medical privacy laws, officials said in a release.

The death was the 54th attributed to COVID-19 in Missouri, with the largest concentration of deaths in the state being in St. Louis County. Twenty-one of COVID-19 deaths in the state involved patients 80 years old or older, and another 17 deaths involved patients 70 to 79.

The local death came 38 days after the first U.S. death attributed to COVID-19. As of Tuesday, that number had grown to 12,064, with about half of those in New York. The first COVID-19 case in the United States was reported Jan. 22. Since then, the number has ballooned to 374,329 as of Tuesday, according to information collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The first COVID-19 case in the county was reported March 24. In Cape Girardeau County, 20 positive cases have been reported. Four of those patients have recovered.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Saint Francis Medical Center reported nine positive cases, 338 negative test results and a total of 637 tests administered. Southeast Hospital reported three positive cases, 129 negative test results and 176 total tests administered. Cross Trails Medical Center reported no positive cases, 28 negative test results and 29 total tests administered. Other Cape Girardeau County health care providers reported eight positive cases.

Other positive cases in surrounding Missouri counties as of Tuesday were:

• Bollinger, 2
• Perry, 28
• Scott, 10
• Stoddard, 8.

According to information provided by the state Department of Health and Senior Services, total COVID-19 cases in Missouri as of Tuesday were 3,037.

In Illinois, neither Union County nor Alexander County have reported a positive case.

Symptoms of the virus related to COVID-19 include fever, cough and shortness of breath. CDC “emergency warning signs” for COVID-19 include trouble breathing, persistent pain or pressure in the chest, confusion or inability to arouse and bluish lips or face. Anyone with those symptoms should seek immediate medical care.

Most people recover from the virus, and some who are infected show only mild or no symptoms.

To date, about 2 million Americans have been tested for the virus, which began in China and has spread across the globe, infecting about 1.4 million people and killing more than 75,000.