Missouri’s death toll from the delta variant of COVID-19 is rising, especially in the hard-hit southwestern corner of the state. The Springfield-Greene County Health Department announced Wednesday that 82 people have died from COVID-19 since July 1. The health department cited 67 deaths in July and 15 in the first nine days of August. The state health department’s COVID-19 dashboard shows Missouri is nearing the sad milestone of 10,000 deaths. As of Wednesday, 9,982 Missourians have died from the virus since the pandemic began. State data also showed 3,282 newly confirmed cases on Wednesday, the biggest one-day count since January. The seven-day average was 2,221.