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PAGE 4 No Easy Answers to Address Generational Poverty in Rural Towns PAGE 8 HCC/Live Well Health Practitioners Believe in an Advocacy Approach to Patient Health PAGE 12 Nurse Midwife Debbra Bersano Joins HCC/Live Well, Discusses Pivotal Role in Women's Health COVID-19 STATUS UPDATE Heidi Koger Proofreader Melissa Riggs Proofreader Keishel A. Williams Editor Elena Cleaves Marketing Intern/Contributing Writer Marjorie Langas Graphic and Layout Margaret Phillips Developer/Programmer Tempest Wright Print/Digital Illustrator Tonia Wright Publisher Editor-in-Chief We want to hear from you! Let us know how we are doing on Facebook, Twitter @accessHealth1 or write: accessHealth is published by Grace Advertising & Consulting, Inc. 325 Broadway Lexington, MO 64067 A big thank you to our advertisers. A recent White House Task Force Report indicates Missouri remains in the red zone for new cases. Missouri continues to experience high levels of community transmission and our test positivity continues to increase, remaining above 10%. The attached table details the specific data elements and their thresholds to determine the state/county categories. Based on this methodology, for the week ending October 25th: (These trends have not changed in recent days.) • Missouri remains in the red zone for new cases, meaning Missouri reported more than 101 new cases per 100,000 population for the week ending October 25th. ▪ Missouri had the 18th highest rate of new cases per 100,000 population in the US with 199 new cases per 100,000 population last week. Both our ranking and rate of cases is down slightly from the prior week (ranked 10th highest with 216 new cases per 100,000 population). ▪ While Missouri's rate of new cases and ranking has decreased slightly, we remain near record highs for case growth and test positivity. ▪ Jackson County, St. Louis County, and St. Charles County had the highest total cases for Missouri over the last three weeks representing 27.2% of new cases in Missouri. ◦ It should be noted these three counties account for more than 34% of Missouri's total population but only 27% of Missouri's COVID-19 cases in the last three weeks. ▪ 87% of all counties in Missouri have high to moderate levels of community transmission (red, orange, or yellow zone) down slightly from 88% the prior period. ◦ 68% of Missouri counties have high levels of community transmission (red zone)—up from 62% reported the prior period. • Missouri remains in the red zone for test positivity with a rate of 10.9%, up from 10.3% the prior period. ▪ Missouri has the 10th highest positivity rate in the US. The national positivity rate was 5.8%--up slightly from the 5.4% reported the prior period. • Missouri remains in the red zone for deaths for the week ending October 25th. Missouri reported 224 deaths during this timeframe and a rate of 3.6 per 100,000 population. This is up from the prior period—163 deaths and a rate of 2.7 per 100,000 population. • Hospitalizations continue to be a concern in Missouri. Between October 17-23, on average 169 patients with confirmed COVID-19 and 216 patients with suspected COVID-19 were reported as newly admitted each day to Missouri hospitals (prior period was 173 confirmed and 221 suspected). ▪ On average, more than 95% of Missouri hospitals reported either confirmed or suspected patients admitted each day during this period. High community transmission of COVID-19 continues to be observed in every region in the state with 18 metro areas and 78 counties falling in the red zone for new cases over the last three weeks (listed below, sorted by the number of new cases in the last three weeks, from highest to lowest)—up from 17 metros and 71 counties the prior period. Please note, localities with fewer than 10 cases in the last week have been excluded. High levels of community transmission are especially prevalent in smaller urban counties and rural counties in Missouri. Given the severity of COVID-19 throughout Missouri, we strongly encourage all Missourians and all essential businesses to wear masks, practice social distancing, increase hand washing, seek testing when needed, stay home if ill and comply with quarantine protocols as appropriate. Individuals should also avoid large gatherings— especially during the holiday season. These steps are crucial to stopping the spread of COVID-19 within our communities. PAGE 02 November 2020

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