The number of people hospitalized in Springfield due to COVID-19 remains high even as confirmed cases in Greene County have seen a significant drop.
As of Monday, there were 239 inpatients at the city’s two hospitals, CoxHealth and Mercy, and 56 were in critical care, according to the Springfield-Greene County Health Department's Dashboard.
In a statement Friday, CoxHealth president and CEO Steve Edwards said they reached a grim milestone last week—topping 200 COVID-19 patients for the first time.
A total of 932 people has died of COVID-19 at CoxHealth.
The healthcare system continues finding ways to help staff deal with the stress of the pandemic.
It’s partnering with Burrell Behavioral Health for three interactive, virtual, "Be Well" sessions, which focus on self-care, mindfulness and connection. The first was held last week.
Edwards urged people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that people who have received their booster shots are 97 times less likely to die from COVID-19 that those who haven’t received a shot at all. Those who are fully vaccinated but not boosted are 14 times less likely to die than the unvaccinated.
CDC director, Rochelle Walensky, shared those statistics, which came from a new study, at a White House press briefing last week.