Missouri leads the nation in new COVID-19 cases based on population. On Thursday, the state reported more than 12-hundred new cases and Missouri reported another 890 cases on Friday. State Epidemiologist, Dr. George Turabelidze, says some of the different strains of the virus are more contagious than the original virus.

 

He says the demand for vaccines has significantly declined in Missouri, from 50-thousand people daily in March and April to 10-thousand per day in June. The Delta variant of the virus is highly contagious and is primarily targeting unvaccinated people – causing severe illness in many cases and leading to an increase in Missouri’s hospitalizations.