COVID-19 update: Details leak for Kansas reopening; virus leaves prison short-staffed
As the expiration of statewide and local stay-at-home orders approaches in Kansas and Missouri, details about plans for the reopening process are beginning to emerge.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly is scheduled to outline a phased-in approach at a news conference Thursday night.
Ahead of that announcement, Rep. Stephen Owens, a Hesston Republican, posted to Facebook a three-page, bullet-point summary of what he said is the Democratic governor’s reopening plan.
“Kansas deserves information as soon as its available. People’s livelihoods are at stake,” Owens wrote. “I received a copy of the Govs re-opening plan this morning from an anonymous source. I have no reason to doubt it’s legitimacy.”
According to the document, Kelly’s plan reopens Kansas in phases, but the pages posted by Owens only document phase one. Each phase will include a mass gathering limit, and the limit for phase one will be 10 people, according to the document.
The state’s stay-at-home order is scheduled to expire on May 3. The document said that local orders cannot be less restrictive than statewide directives but can be more restrictive.
The language in the document reflects what Kelly has said publicly about the plan. The governor’s office didn’t immediately comment.
Safety of meatpacking plants
Also Thursday morning, a Kansas congressman downplayed concerns over the spread of the new coronavirus in meatpacking plants saying that workers have a “bigger chance of getting the virus going into Walmart than at the packing plants.”
Rep. Roger Marshall, a physician and U.S. Senate candidate, highlighted social distancing and protective measures taken at meatpacking plants while expressing support for President Donald Trump’s executive order requiring meatpacking plants to stay open during the COVID-19 pandemic to keep stores stocked.
Meatpacking plants have recently been the subject of a string of outbreaks across Kansas and the country. Last week, Kansas saw a spike in COVID-19 cases following increased testing in communities centered on the meat processing industry.
In Missouri, workers at the Smithfield processing plant in Milan are suing the company, demanding they abide by CDC guidelines to prevent an outbreak.
Lansing prison staffing
The Kansas Department of Corrections is facing staffing shortfalls at the site of the prison system’s largest COVID-19 outbreak.
Of 415 total prison staff, at least 75 tested positive for the new coronavirus as of Wednesday. Only 15 of them have returned to work.
Twenty-five other staff members who have not tested positive for COVID-19 are on leave because of the virus, according to Rebecca Witte, spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Corrections.
The staffing problems, limited access to personal protective equipment and a lack of compliance with state directives by prison management has created a “perfect storm” for corrections employees at Lansing, said Sarah LaFrenz, the president of the Kansas Organization of State Employees which represents corrections employees.
The Star’s Jonathan Shorman and Bryan Lowry contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 30, 2020 at 12:50 PM.
