The number of people hospitalized with the coronavirus in the St. Louis area set another new record Sunday even as the most-recent statewide hospitalization numbers declined slightly.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force said the seven-day average of new patients in the area increased by 13 to 897 Sunday to set a record for the third day in a row. The data includes patients from BJC HealthCare, Mercy, SSM Health and St. Luke's Hospital facilities in the St. Louis area.
The total number of COVID-19 patients in the area increased to 994 on Sunday, up 11 from the previous day. Area hospitals said they are currently using 77 percent of the total staffed beds and 89 percent of their intensive care beds.
Statewide, the number of hospitalizations dropped from 2,813 to 2,654 on Thursday, which was the most-recent data available.
Missouri reported 3,193 new virus cases Sunday to give the state a total of 295,933 cases. The state also reported six new deaths for a total of 3,823.
The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Missouri decreased over the past two weeks, going from 4,379.43 new cases per day Nov. 14 to 3,632.57 new cases per day Saturday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.