Thread by @chrisprener

I’ve updated my #Missouri #COVID19 website for Tuesday, 3/23 - slu-opengis.github.io/covid_daily_vi…. A few highlights, and *new* hospitalization plots, are below 👇.

We saw continued declines in #KCMO and “outstate” but did see a slight bump in new cases in the #StLouis metro area. 1/15

We’re now two weeks out from the addition of antigen cases and have seen no real overall change in our current 7-day averages ☝️. This is great news from a tracking perspective, and means our sense of the virus over the past few weeks was not distorted. 2/15

I mentioned a small number of counties that I was concerned about last week. Montgomery County, in Mid MO, has seen its rate of new cases decline just as precipitously as it climbed last week. 3/15

Nodaway County’s smaller bump has also receded, but elsewhere in northern MO Shelby County is seeing a small bump in new cases. 4/15

I also noted St. Clair County was experiencing a jump in new cases that, like the rest of the counties I highlighted last week, has declined as well. 5/15

In #KansasCity, all of the counties I track closely have had their rates of new cases remain below 20 per 100,000 per day on average. These include the comparatively harder hit counties on the Kansas side of the metro. 6/15

In #StLouis, where the rate increased a bit in the initial plot above, the growth seems to be coming from Jefferson County in particular. This may be an artifact from revisions to their numbers last week, however. Will continue to watch that closely. 7/15

Our hospitalization 7-day average trends are starting to move down again after plateaus over the last week or so - good news both for patients and weary health care providers, though it's worth remember hundreds remain hospitalized here. 8/15

This pattern mirrors the hospitalization trends we saw as of mid-month both regionally and in Missouri metro areas. These plots are new and will be updated weekly on the site. 9/15

In terms of vaccines, we’re slowly seeing rates increase in both the #KCMO and #StLouis metro areas, though the rates in the City of St. Louis itself remain quite low relative to surrounding counties. 10/15

The good news is that Regions A (#KCMO) and C (#StLouis) now have the highest rates of new vaccinations over the last 7 days. That said, overall rates still remain lower than other Highway Patrol Districts. 11/15

If you’re wondering which Highway Patrol District you fall into, I’ve added an interactive map on the vaccination page to help you located yourself. 12/15 slu-opengis.github.io/covid_daily_vi…

And finally, an update on health disparities - African American and Indigenous people both continue to have the lowest vaccination rates by significant amounts in MO. 13/15

My standard caveats about uncertainty - infections (1) are historical data that reflect infections 2-3 weeks ago, (2) are biased by testing patterns, (3) may include probable but unconfirmed cases in some counties, and (4) rates are not individual probabilities of illness. 14/15

Additional data, maps, and plots are on my tracking site - slu-opengis.github.io/covid_daily_vi….

The next update will be on Thursday via River City Data, while my next 🧵 will be Tuesday, 3/30.

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