County lags state in virus vaccinations

COVID-19 cases in the region continue their slow-down, though all area counties have reported new cases in the past week.

Cape Girardeau County Emergency Management director Mark Winkler told county commissioners Thursday morning active cases in the county stood at 28, up eight from the start of the week. The county's 14-day rolling count of new cases went down one, from 76 to 75. The county's 14-day testing positivity rate also went down, from 6% to 5.6%.

Thus far, the county has tallied 9,536 cases of the virus, and 134 county residents died because of complications from it. No new deaths have been reported since early April.

More than a third of county residents -- 34.5% -- have initiated a vaccine regimen, while 30.3% have completed it. Statewide, 40% of the population has received at least one vaccine dose, and 33.2% of the population has completed the regimen.

The latest reported virus-related statistics compiled by the state Department of Health and Senior Services from select Missouri counties as of Thursday were:

• Bollinger County: confirmed cases, 1,086; new cases past seven days, two; confirmed deaths, 13; seven-day testing positivity rate, 4.7%
• Perry County: confirmed cases, 2,175; new cases past seven days, seven; confirmed deaths, 30; seven-day testing positivity rate, 6.3%
• Scott: confirmed cases, 3,956; new cases past seven days, three; confirmed deaths, 84; seven-day testing positivity rate, 2.5%
• Stoddard County: confirmed cases, 2,377; new cases past seven days, six; confirmed deaths, 41; seven-day testing positivity rate, 4.5%.

In Illinois, Southern Seven Health Department reported: Union County -- 2,219 total cases, 32 total deaths and seven active cases; Alexander County -- 463 total cases, seven total deaths and three active cases.

Jeff Long contributed reporting to this article.