COVID-19 news: Johnson County ‘fully open’; Quarantine suggested for Ozarks partiers
With Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly ending the state’s phased approached to reopening the economy, Johnson County officials announced late Tuesday that it would not impose its own COVID-19-related restrictions.
The county said any coronavirus restrictions limiting the size of gatherings or how businesses can operate are now just strong recommendations.
Earlier in the day Tuesday, Kelly vetoed a bill designed to limit her authority among the COVID-19 crisis. She also said the state would no longer follow her statewide plan for opening business. Individual counties will now make those decisions.
Still, Johnson County’s public health officer Joseph LeMaster strongly recommends that residents and businesses continue to follow the phases and guidance in the state plan. That would allow the county time to monitor data and see the impact of loosening restrictions, reopening business and the gatherings that occurred over the Memorial Day weekend.
“It is crucial that we all continue to practice physical distancing, wear barrier masks where we cannot maintain social distancing, practice good hygiene and make decisions that protect the health of the community,” he said.
Commissioner Mike Brown, an advocate of giving businesses more freedom and reopening the economy as soon as possible, said on Facebook that Johnson County “is effectively now fully open for business.”
Wyandotte County will continue enforcing Kelly’s plan, until at least June 8, Mayor David Alvey said.
Lake of the Ozarks bar stands by its Memorial Day weekend party
Saying no laws were broken and that it was “the right and responsibility of each individual” to make decisions about going out in public, the owner of a Lake of the Ozarks bar stood by the decision to host a party during Memorial Day weekend.
Gary Prewitt, the owner of Backwater Jack’s Bar & Grill, in Osage Beach, issued a statement Tuesday outlining the steps that were taken in preparation for the “Zero Ducks Given” pool party the bar hosted on Saturday.
Those steps included hiring medical staff to check temperatures at both entrances to the pool. Anyone with a temperature above 100.4 was refused entry. Hand sanitizer was made available.
Videos and images circulated online showing large groups of people disregarding public health recommendations meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus, which drew national outrage over a lack of social distancing during the pandemic.
Backwater Jack’s was one of the businesses featured in the videos.
Partygoers should seek coronavirus testing
Kansas City Health Director Rex Archer on Tuesday said people who failed to social distance while at the Lake of the Ozarks over Memorial Day weekend should seek testing for COVID-19 and quarantine for 14 days.
For those who will not quarantine, they should “at the very least” wear a mask in public to reduce the chance of spreading the disease.
“I do want people to understand that you can get this virus and not know you have it, you can pass it to high-risk people,” he said.
Those exposed, he said, should seek testing three to four days after exposure and again before ending their quarantine.
Any spike in cases, Archer said, will not be evident in data for three to five weeks.
Construction continues on Nordstrom’s Plaza location
Before the pandemic, Nordstrom was preparing to move from Oak Park Mall in Overland Park to the Country Club Plaza next year.
The move required several buildings on the Plaza’s west side to be demolished last year. The project is still moving forward, Maria Mainville, spokeswoman for the Plaza, said in a statement.
“There is work happening now related to the reconfiguration of Jefferson Street and the Nordstrom pad preparation, as well as the retrofit of the adjacent parking deck,” she said.
A Nordstrom spokeswoman said, ”We plan to move forward with this store relocation and may need to adjust the timing based on COVID-19.”
Johnson County nursing home unaware of COVID-19 cluster
Villa St. Francis, an Olathe nursing home, was unaware it had a COVID-19 cluster until it tested everyone.
Rodney Whittington, chief executive officer, began to wonder why his facility had just one case. So he decided to test all residents and staff beginning late last week. So far, 22 residents and 15 staff members have tested positive. Fifty tests are pending.
“It came to the point where I had trouble believing this because we are so big,” said Whittington of the facility with 170 residents and about 250 staff members.
“First and foremost, it’s because I know this thing goes undetected so often. We could be lulled to a comfort level because we’re saying we are COVID free and we might not be.”
The facility expanded its testing after one employee, who had no contact with residents, tested positive for the virus earlier this month. Fourteen other employees who had come in contact with that worker were tested.
Whittington worried that the coronavirus was inside the facility and hadn’t been detected.
Johnson County Department of Health and Environment denied tests for the residents because there were no symptoms, Whittington said.
The nursing home turned to a lab, and when the results came back, it showed people had tested positive for the disease.
The vast majority of the cases have been asymptomatic, Whittington said. Three residents have been hospitalized. There have been no deaths at the facility.
