ST. LOUIS (AP) — Missouri has been among the states hit early and hard by the delta variant of COVID-19, but there are some signs of improvement. The state’s COVID-19 dashboard on Tuesday showed 2,146 people hospitalized with the virus. That’s still more than three times the number hospitalized at the start of June, but it’s down from 2,463 hospitalizations on Aug. 19. Southwestern Missouri has seen a decline from 628 hospitalized patients on July 29 to 431. One area of the state is still seeing a surge. Southeast Missouri had 10 people hospitalized with the virus on July 1. That number was at 140 as of Tuesday.