Leawood closes City Hall after learning of possible coronavirus exposure
Leawood closed its City Hall on Friday after officials learned of a possible coronavirus exposure.
Capt. Brad Robbins, a spokesman for the Leawood Police Department, said someone who was potentially exposed to the virus had been at City Hall, at 4800 Town Center Drive. The building in Johnson County is now closed to all nonessential personnel, he said, out of an “overabundance of caution.”
“Police and fire stations are still active and responding,” he said. “But City Hall is the building the most people would go to for services. They decided to close City Hall until we can get a better handle on what has happened.”
City employees are available to answer phone calls, but all meetings, including the City Council meeting scheduled for Monday, are canceled.
The move came after Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Thursday announced the Kansas City area’s first death from coronavirus. A man in his 70s who lived in a long-term care facility died in Wyandotte County, she said.
Three new cases of the disease, known as COVID-19, were identified earlier Thursday in Johnson County. Another Johnson County case was announced last weekend. Wichita announced a sixth Kansas case Friday morning.
In Missouri, Gov. Mike Parson announced the state’s second “presumptive positive” case, found in Springfield. Missouri’s first case was in St. Louis County.
No cases of the respiratory illness have been confirmed in Kansas City, Missouri.
