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The ICU is currently at 94 percent. Of course, not all of those people are COVID patients," said Mayor Lucy.

Last month a city-wide mask mandate measure in Washington failed by a vote of five to four.

"I would just encourage, plea, ask people to wash your hands you know. Social distance," Mayor Lucy said.

"Even if it's just putting on a mask when you go to a larger store, if you can't social distance, you should put on a mask," said Washington resident Rebeca Clinkinbeard.

The State of Missouri reported 32 COVID-19 related deaths on Saturday along with 1,198 new cases.

As of Aug. 29, there have been 1,496 total deaths related to the virus in the state, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

The seven-day positivity rate for the state is at 12.2%.

The percentage of tests coming back positive jumped back up over 9 percent

The death rate also jumped to 3.5 per 100,000 people from 1.3 the previous week

71 percent of Missouri counties had moderate to high levels of community transmission, with 42 percent at the high, “red zone” level.

Missouri does not require people to wear masks in public, and Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican who recently tested positive for COVID-19, has ignored pleas to change that.

As of Sept. 30, the state has reported over 126,000 cases, including Gov. Mike Parson and First Lady Teresa Parson. More than 2,000 people have died in Missouri as a result of COVID-19.

Recent spikes in both cases and deaths have been attributed to students returning to school and college.

Missouri is one of more than a dozen states that don't have a mask mandate in place