Did Branson’s reopening bring COVID spread to tourist town? The early reports are in
The number of COVID-19 cases in the Branson area has doubled in the three weeks since the Memorial Day weekend when much of the Missouri tourist town re-opened for business.
Taney County — which includes Branson — had reported just 12 cases of the coronavirus before Memorial Day. At that time, the county’s last positive case was the first week of May.
But the numbers have continued to climb. On Sunday alone, the Taney County Health Department reported eight new cases of the coronavirus, bringing the total to 24. Those numbers don’t include anyone who visited Branson and might now be positive, but lives elsewhere.
The health department released an exposure risk Sunday night related to one of those individuals who tested positive. That person had been to summer school in Hollister from June 3-12 without wearing a mask.
Health officials around Branson have taken notice as the numbers jumped in the tourist community.
“It’s definitely a reminder that we can’t let our guard down,” said Pam Burnett, administrator of the health department in Stone County, where amusement park Silver Dollar City opened to the public on Monday. “It’s just a reminder that we have to keep vigilant in our prevention measures.
“We are always trying to relay that information, that even though people are tired of staying their distances or tired of staying home, we have to keep up the process until we have a vaccination in place.”
Silver Dollar City welcomed about 6,000 season ticket holders on Saturday and Sunday, before the park opened to the public. It expected to allow as many as 9,000 Monday, said spokeswoman Lisa Rau. That’s significantly lower than the 15,000 guests who might come through the gates during a peak summer day.
By 2 :30 Monday afternoon attendance hadn’t reached 5,000 yet. But the park, which is requiring visitors ages 3 and up to wear masks, was expecting more by the end of the day.
Rau said Silver Dollar City would work with health officials on any contact tracing or other steps needed to monitor the pandemic.
In Stone County there have been an additional three cases since Memorial Day.
Lisa Marshall, Taney County health director, told The Star more than three weeks ago that she and other health officials worried what could happen with the reopening of the community and tourism-dependent businesses.
“We have definitely all along anticipated that we will see a case here and there,” Marshall said. “But I think we were so surprised to see so many new cases over the weekend.”
Her staff is analyzing the numbers to look at what’s happened in the past seven days, not just since Friday.
“Sometimes you have a bad day in the testing,” Marshall said. “You have to look at the whole week.”
Cases reported in Taney County aren’t the only worries for the health department.
On June 8, health officials released information about an individual who lives outside Taney County but tested positive for the virus after visiting the Branson area.
The person visited the Branson Zipline at Wolf Mountain, the Mellow Mushroom at the Branson Landing and Track #4 at The Track Family Fun Parks on May 30. That information went out in an exposure release to the community.
Steve Hartley, co-owner of Dick’s 5 & 10, said crowds continue to increase at his variety store in downtown Branson.
“We see more people in the store every single day,” he said. “The customers we are getting are purchasing and purchasing more than last year.”
He said everyone in town is watching the numbers of cases closely. But he is so far not too worried.
“Those are probably some Memorial Day numbers starting to trickle in. We expected to have a slight spike,” he said. “We’re just watching it every single day to make sure it’s not jumping in large numbers. Also there’s more testing being done so naturally you’re going to have more cases.”
He said most of Main Street has reopened and theaters continue to open their doors for socially-distanced shows. Like other business owners, he believes Branson is well suited to attract families wanting to drive to a quick vacation getaway.
“All the things that people love about Branson are either open or starting to open up,” Hartley said. “It’s just a wonderful place to come especially during this time.”
This story was originally published June 15, 2020 at 4:04 PM.
