Missouri

St. Louis area drives increase in monkeypox cases across Missouri

Published

2 years ago

October 6, 2022

St. Louis area drives increase in monkeypox cases across Missouri

ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis space continues to see an increase in monkeypox circumstances at the same time as the overall circumstances throughout the U.S. proceed to go down.

A complete of 52 confirmed and possible circumstances have been reported as of Thursday by the St. Louis Division of Well being, up from 36 two weeks in the past. Town noticed the world’s first case on July 12.

A complete of 28 St. Louis County residents have been identified with monkeypox for the reason that first week of August. After a lull in mid-September, the final 10 circumstances have are available in simply the previous two weeks.

“Whereas our complete variety of circumstances continues to be comparatively low, we’ve got seen a rise within the tempo of recent circumstances,” Kate Donaldson, performing co-director of the St. Louis County Division of Public Well being, mentioned Thursday in an e mail.

Jefferson County well being officers final week additionally reported the primary case of monkeypox in a Jefferson County resident.

“Throughout the state we’ve got seen a number of circumstances of monkeypox, so we have been ready for the potential that Jefferson County would see a case as effectively,” acknowledged Jeana Vidacak, the county’s public well being preparedness supervisor. “Our communicable illness crew has been getting ready for case investigations and neighborhood schooling.”

A complete of 124 monkeypox circumstances have been reported in Missouri, information from the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention exhibits.

The previous two weeks have seen essentially the most variety of new circumstances but — averaging practically three a day, in keeping with the primary publication created Wednesday by the Missouri Division of Well being and Senior Companies to share information concerning the outbreak with suppliers.

In the meantime throughout the nation, practically 26,300 circumstances have been reported for the reason that worldwide outbreak hit the U.S. in Might. The variety of new circumstances peaked nationwide across the finish of August and have been dropping since.

Circumstances in Missouri have been reported in 15 jurisdictions, the DHSS publication exhibits. Most (67%) are within the St. Louis metropolitan space. The Kansas Metropolis space has seen 16%.

The median age of Missouri monkeypox circumstances is 32, with 18 being the youngest and 61 the oldest. Practically all (97%) are males.

Well being officers with St. Louis metropolis and county have been working to coach and vaccinate as many residents as they’ll towards monkeypox, which they are saying has helped forestall the excessive variety of circumstances metro areas have seen in different states.

The St. Louis County well being division — the state-designated vaccine distribution hub for St. Louis, St. Charles and Jefferson counties and town of St. Louis — reviews greater than 2,000 people have been vaccinated throughout the area for the reason that outbreak started.

The efforts included outreach on the Tower Grove Satisfaction two weeks in the past by which greater than 500 individuals obtained the vaccine.

“We stay dedicated to reaching these people who’re most weak and in danger for contracting the illness, and we’re happy with our partnerships with space clinics, neighborhood companions and public well being departments,” Donaldson mentioned.

After internet hosting a two-day monkepox vaccination occasion three weeks in the past the place greater than 400 individuals have been vaccinated, town well being division is taking appointments for one more two-day occasion Oct. 14 and 15 from 10 a.m. to three p.m. at 1520 Market Avenue. Name (314) 657-1499 for info.

Throughout Missouri, greater than 4,000 monkeypox vaccine doses have been administered — of which about 3,300 are first doses. Full vaccination requires two doses given 4 weeks aside.

The quantity of vaccine stays restricted throughout the nation, so CDC pointers require doses to be reserved for shut contacts of optimistic circumstances and people at highest threat.

On this outbreak, monkeypox has unfold primarily via extended skin-to-skin contact. Whereas anybody can get monkeypox, the sickness is at the moment principally affecting males who’ve intercourse with males.

To assist establish and guarantee solely those that meet the CDC pointers get the vaccine, the Missouri well being division created a web based survey. The outcomes are supplied to native well being division officers, who schedule the people for a vaccine appointment.

To ease the method at outreach occasions, suppliers with approval from DHSS are additionally in a position to ask sufferers if they’re eligible for the vaccine, mentioned DHSS spokeswoman Lisa Cox.

Signs of monkeypox embody fever, chills, head or muscle aches, adopted by a rash that appears like pimples, sores or blisters. The sores will be painful or itchy and will first seem within the genital space.

Monkeypox testing is accessible without charge at public well being and neighborhood clinics all through the area.

St. Louis County launches online dashboard to track monkeypox cases

Study used to expand supply of monkeypox vaccine was led by St. Louis University

Missouri health officials raise threat level of monkeypox, frustrated with limited vaccine supply

Source link

Click to comment

Missouri

Sandra Hemme spent 43 years wrongfully imprisoned. Missouri would pay little if she is freed

Published

22 mins ago

June 30, 2024

Press Room

Sandra Hemme spent 43 years wrongfully imprisoned. Missouri would pay little if she is freed

After serving 43 years in prison for a murder case hinged on things she said as a psychiatric patient, Sandra Hemme could be cleared of the killing and freed in less than three weeks, by July 14.

For that, Missouri state law promises $100 a day for each day of her life lost to prison on a wrongful conviction. For Hemme, who was first convicted in 1981 for the 1980 killing, that’s roughly $1.6 million.

Some critics say that’s too little for 43 years. If her case had been in federal court, she would be in line for about a third more. In Kansas, nearly twice as much. In Texas, the money would have been more than doubled.

Livingston County Circuit Judge Ryan Horsman ruled in mid-June that the state must free Hemme unless prosecutors retried her in the next 30 days. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said shortly after the ruling that his appeals division would look into whether to challenge the judge’s decision.

The judge ruled that prosecutors presented no forensic evidence or motive linking Hemme to the killing of library worker Patricia Jeschke in St. Joseph, Missouri, in November 1980.

Rather, the case relied on what she said in a psychiatric ward in a St. Joseph hospital. At the time, she said conflicting and impossible things. At one point, she claimed to see a man commit the killing, but he was in another city at the time. At other times, she said she knew about the murder because of extrasensory perception. Two weeks into talks with detectives, she said she thought she stabbed Jeschke with a hunting knife, but she wasn’t sure.

Hemme’s lawyers accuse a now-discredited police officer of her murder. In a rare departure from its policy a year ago, the attorney general’s office didn’t object to a hearing to explore a wrongful-conviction claim.

If she’s cleared, Hemme’s case would mark the longest known wrongful conviction of a woman in U.S. history.

Her compensation for those years in jail will not be a record.

Caps on wrongful-conviction compensation vary widely across the country. In federal cases, the limit is $50,000 for every year someone’s wrongly held in prison plus $100,000 for every year on death row.

In Washington, D.C., the cap is $200,000 a year. Connecticut pays as much as $131,506. Nevada has a sliding scale that pays $100,000 a year on cases of 20 years or more.

Kansas pays $65,000 for each year. In more than a dozen other states, the rate runs from $50,000 to $80,000. Of states that set limits or promise compensation, Missouri’s $36,500 a year is low.

The National Registry of Exonerations counts 54 people convicted of crimes in Missouri who have been exonerated since 1989. Only nine of them got payouts from the state. Missouri is the only state that gives wrongly imprisoned inmates compensation if they were proved not guilty by DNA analysis.

Gov. Mike Parson vetoed a bill in 2023 that could have provided inmates proven not guilty with a larger compensation up to $179 a day, allowed prosecutors to seek judicial review of past cases and created a state special unit to help prosecutors with investigating cases.

This story was originally published by The Beacon, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective.

Source link

Missouri

Single-vehicle crash ends in fatality after car flips near rural Missouri highway

Published

8 hours ago

June 29, 2024

Press Room

Single-vehicle crash ends in fatality after car flips near rural Missouri highway

HENRY CO., Mo. (KCTV) – A single-vehicle collision ended with a fatality over the weekend after a car flipped onto its top on a rural Missouri highway near the Harry S. Truman Reservoir.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol indicates that around 11:20 a.m. on Saturday, June 29, emergency crews were called to the area of Route U and SE 580 Rd. with reports of a collision.

When first responders arrived, they said they found a 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix driven by Steven F. Albin, 67, of Clinton, Mo., had run off the right side of the roadway and then hit a ditch and a culvert.

Troopers noted that the impact on the culvert caused the vehicle to flip onto its top. Albin was pronounced deceased at the scene. No further information has been released.

Source link

Missouri

A Missouri Home Exploded Friday Night and No One Knows Why

Published

15 hours ago

June 29, 2024

Press Room

A Missouri Home Exploded Friday Night and No One Knows Why

A Missouri fire department was responding to a fire Friday night only to learn that blaze now involved an explosion. Once they arrived, they learned a Missouri home had exploded and as of now, no one knows exactly why or who might have been in the building.

The Eureka, Missouri Fire Protection District shared these alarming pictures on their Facebook page Saturday morning about the structure they found leveled.

According to the spokesperson from the Eureka Fire Protection District, they feared that individuals might still be buried under the remains of the home, but as of this writing, they have found no one.

In home explosions like this, the most likely culprit is a gas leak in association with the fire, but there’s no confirmation at this time.

Eureka Fire Protection District via Facebook

As this is a developing story, it will be updated once new information is released after the Eureka, Missouri Fire Protection District completes its investigation.