Half of KC Council self-quarantines after possible COVID-19 contact: Mayor’s office
At least six members of the Kansas City Council will self-quarantine this week because of possible exposure to the novel coronavirus, the mayor’s office said Tuesday.
Mayor Quinton Lucas’ spokeswoman, Morgan Said, told The Star that six of the 12 council members were self-quarantined but that they were not exhibiting symptoms of the disease, COVID-19.
The National League of Cities informed at least two council members that they might have been exposed at the organization’s Congressional City Conference held last week in Washington, D.C., the members said. In a statement on its website, NLC said two attendees tested positive for the illness. Several other council members could not immediately be reached for comment.
Some other council members who did not attend have also reported being under self-quarantine, including Councilman Eric Bunch, who posted on Twitter Monday.
The council’s Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee was expected to vote on several ordinances Wednesday making up the city’s budget. The full council was expected to meet Thursday.
With up to half of the council absent, some committees could end up without enough members for a quorum. Said said that members who are under self-quarantine will participate in those meetings via live stream and vote digitally.
The City Clerk’s Office on Tuesday updated committee agendas to say some members might attend via teleconference or videoconference.
Reached by phone, Councilman Dan Fowler, 2nd District, said that he was one of the council members who attended the NLC conference and that he received the notification and entered self-quarantine upon the advice of his primary care physician. Fowler said he was told the attendees who tested positive for the virus didn’t attend meetings with him on Monday, March 9, or Tuesday March 10, meaning his 14-day quarantine will end March 22.
Fowler said he has no symptoms and would be “just really, really surprised” if he had contracted COVID-19.
“Everybody at that conference was washing their hands and using hand sanitizers,” Fowler said. “Nobody was shaking hands. I think we were being about as safe as you can be.”
Councilwoman Ryana Parks-Shaw said she, too, attended the conference and was notified about the attendees who tested positive. She also isn’t exhibiting symptoms but chose to self-quarantine to be cautious.
Parks-Shaw said she avoided shaking hands or touching elevator buttons at the conference. She left on Wednesday, March 11, so she said her self-quarantine ends Tuesday, March 24.
Michelle Pekarsky, public information officer for the city’s health department, said the department would contact council members with further instructions.
City Council meetings are exempted from an emergency declaration Lucas issued barring any events with more than 10 attendees. That order, which is in line with White House recommendations, also shuttered dine-in restaurant services in Kansas City, and Lucas announced the 14 school districts that lie wholly or partially in Kansas City would close.
The City Clerk’s office encouraged members of the public to observe council meetings online or on television and submit written testimony to publictestimony@kcmo.org rather than attend the meetings.
You can access the city’s live stream online at www.kcmo.gov or on YouTube at youtube.com/watch?v=3hOuBIg4fok. The city also has a television Time Warner Cable (channel 2 or 98.2), AT&T U-verse (channel 99 then select Kansas City) and Google Fiber on Channel 142.
To find out more about Kansas City’s response to the coronavirus, you can text “COVIDKC” to 888-777 or visit the city’s website at kcmo.gov/coronavirus. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has information at cdc.gov/coronavirus, and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has a hotline at 877-435-8411.
