‘It’s insane.’ Missouri COVID-19 numbers climb as cases spread across the state
Missouri recorded another big jump in COVID-19 cases Tuesday as the ever-evolving map of confirmed cases continues to spread across the state.
Nearly 300 new COVID-19 cases were reported, pushing the state’s total to at least 1,327, according to statistics from Missouri health officials. Another death also was reported, this one in St. Louis County, bringing the state total to 14.
The hardest hit areas still include St. Louis County with 492 cases, St. Louis with 136, Kansas City with 119, Jackson County with 77 and Boone County with 64.
But the virus is not just a city problem. Numbers are rising in smaller, more rural communities. Health directors in those areas know the storm — one that will test their small workforces and consume available hospital beds and equipment — is headed their way.
“Of course I’m concerned,” said Pam Burnett, health director of Stone County in the southwest corner of Missouri. The county had its first case over the weekend.
With no hospital in Stone County and a health department of 15, she has extensive plans in place.
“I feel like when I have a quiet moment and looking through email that something is going to happen any minute,” Burnett said. “... It’s an eerie feeling.”
Camden County, which includes Lake of the Ozarks, had just one case last week. By Tuesday, it had 12.
In Lafayette County, east of Kansas City, cases have climbed to 19.
“It’s insane,” said Tom Emerson, director of the Lafayette County Health Department in Lexington. “And it’s just starting, I’m afraid.”
One reason for the increase in that county of roughly 32,000: a cluster of cases in the Division of Youth Services facility in Waverly that is operated by the Missouri Department of Social Services. A state news release on Tuesday said staffers and five youth tested positive for the coronavirus.
“But that aside, we’ve still got plenty that aren’t associated with it,” Emerson said.
With no statewide stay at home order in place, Lafayette County implemented its own and it went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.
If Gov. Mike Parson followed the lead of other states — from New York, Michigan, Kansas and at least two dozen others — and issued a stay at home order for everyone, “that would be incredibly helpful,” said Lisa Marshall, Taney County Health Department director.
“Just so we don’t have a patchwork approach to it,” Marshall said. “If we’re not all doing the same thing, we’re not doing anyone any favors. ... It opens the door for transmission.”
The Branson business community has taken the pandemic seriously, Marshall said.
“Our county is doing what they need to do and we’re being proactive,” she said. “But we worry about counties that don’t have that.”
Taney has had two cases and the health department is working with hospitals to make sure it’s prepared for what is potentially coming.
“We certainly are worried about having enough people to manage a very bad outbreak,” Marshall said.
Research from the University of Washington predicts the coronavirus pandemic will peak in Missouri on May 18.
Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway, a Democrat running for governor, on Tuesday added her voice to those calling on Parson to issue a statewide stay at home order.
Although the Republican governor has not done that, he did announce changes Tuesday that would close some state parks. And he announced that the state was exploring “alternate care sites,” including the Hy-Vee Arena (formerly Kemper Arena) in Kansas City and Silverstein Eye Centers Arena in Independence, as well as other sites in Kansas City.
McDonald County in southwest Missouri started preparing for the coronavirus outbreak in January, said Health Department Administrator Paige Behm.
She said they’ve now put together 500 kits that contain gloves, masks, gowns and hand sanitizer to provide to EMS, police, sheriff’s department, first responders and clinics “so if they have someone they want to test, they have them ready.”
McDonald County has two cases of coronavirus so far, she said. The patients were not hospitalized, she said, but one had pneumonia.
The county has run 30 to 50 tests, Behm said.
“The problem is, the test kits are in such short supply ..,” Behm said. “But we just ordered some supplies, and we should have them in Thursday, to do our own test kits.”
Behm, who has a staff of 11, said the number of positive cases could be higher because so few are being tested.
“And one of the main concerns is that a person who had done some traveling had no symptoms whatsoever, but we decided to test her and she was positive,” she said.
Behm said while people in the county seem to be doing a good job of social distancing, she still worries.
“People have got to stay home and not spread the illness,” she said. “We just can’t overwhelm our health care system, especially in the southwest corner of Missouri. We just don’t have a lot of hospitals. It’s a big concern.”
Would a statewide stay at home order help?
“I think you need to take it individually as a county,” she said. “Now, if we had widespread cases in our county, then I think I would feel that we’d need one.”
Jasper County, which includes the Joplin metropolitan area, has had five positive cases.
All were travel related, said Tony Moehr, Jasper County Health Department administrator.
“The people have done the right thing,” he said. “They’ve self-quarantined and once they became ill they self-isolated away from other family members. So really, the only contacts they had since they returned were family members. So we’ve been very fortunate that we haven’t had these people out all through the community.”
But Moehr knows the relatively low case number may not tell the whole story.
“I’m not 100 percent convinced that the amount of testing that we’re doing is going to identify all the potential cases out in the community,” he said.
He said the county has not ordered residents to stay home, and probably won’t without a push from the governor.
“I think orders like that should be issued statewide, because it creates so much confusion among communities,” Moehr said.
“In most areas, it’s very difficult to get support from local government and the community if the governor doesn’t step up and say yeah, this is something we should be doing. And we are in a pretty conservative part of the state, so if the governor is not for it, then there’s a fair chance ...”
Newton County in southwest Missouri had five cases as of Tuesday afternoon, said Larry Bergner, administrator of the county health department.
“Our county has been doing well,” he said, “but like most places, I would like the people to do a better job of staying home.
“I have staff saying that some of our larger stores, like Lowe’s and Walmart, they’re still seeing a lot of cars in the parking lots on the weekends. But as I drive around, certainly traffic is much less than it was.”
He said the county hasn’t pressed Parson for a statewide stay at home order.
“We don’t have a whole lot of people that are positive, and hopefully it’ll stay that way,” Bergner said. “And I think that, for the public anyway, when they don’t see it affecting our area as much as in St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City, Springfield closer to us, if those numbers were to come our way people would pay a little more attention.”
He said a few weeks ago, not everyone was taking the outbreak seriously.
“At first, there were several conversations from people who would say, ‘What’s the big deal? This isn’t any worse than the flu.’ I hear less of that now. I think that message is starting to resonate. When we see what’s happening in New York, we start to really take notice that this could be our area at some point if we don’t take precautions.”
Bergner said Newton County, which has just one hospital, has had enough testing kits so far and “I have not heard any concern about ventilators.”
What keeps him up at night, however, is what happens if the virus continues to spread.
“My greatest concern is wondering if the virus will hit these rural areas like it has in some of the larger metropolitan areas,” Bergner said. “And given that unknown, the fear is are we doing enough as a population, staying home and not traveling, not only in town but across the county and across the state.”
The Star’s Robert A. Cronkleton and Katie Bernard contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 1, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
