COVID-19

The party-line vote stoked sharp differences between members of the county council and audience members who decried the COVID-19 vaccine.

The manufacturing of every Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine dose produced to date has started in Chesterfield, Missouri. The company also tests every batch. Justin Sperry, head of R&D at the site, joined "St. Louis on the Air" to explain how and what it took to develop the vaccine.

During the last week of August, 373 students and 56 staff members tested positive for the coronavirus, County Executive Sam Page said this week. More than 1,300 students and employees have had to quarantine after coming into contact with a person who has tested positive.

New research from Washington University finds about 90% of immunosuppressed patients vaccinated for the coronavirus produced infection-fighting antibodies, but their immune response was weaker than that of healthy people.

Missouri still has leftover funds from the 2020 CARES Act — and is line to spend billions more from a 2021 relief bill known as the American Rescue Plan.

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones named Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis, a national expert in infectious diseases, as the city’s health director. The coronavirus pandemic is the most immediate problem facing the city, Hlatshwayo Davis said, but she intends to focus on the city’s high rates of gun violence and sexually transmitted diseases.

The resolution allows the order from health director Frederick Echols to remain in place longer than 30 days.

In northeast Missouri, where low populations translate into small hospitals, there were no ICU beds available.

Advocates for nursing home residents and union representatives say President Joe Biden's order that nursing homes require employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine will help keep the coronavirus from spreading.

It's unclear what Friday's action means, since the public health order for masking is currently frozen based off a court order.