Kansas City to mandate masks, limit restaurant and bar seating for months longer
Kansas City will require face masks indoors until at least mid-January to limit the spread of the coronavirus, Mayor Quinton Lucas’ office said Thursday.
For weeks, the Kansas City area added, on average, at least 100 new cases of COVID-19 each day. The figure slowly climbed in the early summer as the city reopened and took off in late June. On Thursday, the metro added 494 cases, bringing the total since the onset of the pandemic to 24,355. The virus has killed at least 358 people across the metro.
“Until there’s a widely available vaccine, COVID-19 is here to stay — with serious potential health consequences for those infected,” Lucas said in a press release. “Mask-wearing, social distancing and basic hygiene continue to be the most effective way to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, and we appreciate all who take their personal responsibility to protect their family, friends and neighbors seriously.”
Rex Archer, the city’s Health Department director, said in the release that the city will still be “confronting this health emergency” into the fall and winter.
“Our cases continue to rise, with a 115% increase in the 20-29 age group between June and July,” Archer said. “We need every person, every business, every organization to commit to stopping transmission so our kids can get back to school and our businesses can thrive.”
Lucas first declared an emergency when the pandemic took hold in March. Initially, large group gatherings were outlawed. Then restaurants were limited to only takeout service. As the city relaxed orders and allowed businesses to open this summer, Lucas in June mandated masks.
He extended that mask mandate once in July, and it was set to expire Aug. 15.
Outside Kansas City city limits, Jackson and Platte county mask orders will remain in effect until altered by their county health department. Clay County’s mask order was set to expire Aug. 23. And Cass County does not have a mask mandate.
On the Kansas side, Johnson and Wyandotte counties opted into Gov. Laura Kelly’s mask order, which will remain in effect until at least Sept. 15.
Under Kansas City’s emergency order, masks are required in all indoor public spaces where people can’t be six feet apart, such as in grocery and retail stores. The order also extends restrictions on restaurants and bars.
Bars are limited to serving 50% of their normal capacity. Restaurant tables must be placed six feet apart, and masks are required until patrons are seated and eating.
Masks are also required at salons and gyms, where social distancing may not be possible.
The order says businesses where customers may sit or come in contact with furniture for more than 10 minutes, such as salons and restaurants, should keep a log of people they have served to help with contact tracing. That information will be kept confidential, the order says.
City Hall requests visitors’ names and contact information as they enter.
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.
This story was originally published August 13, 2020 at 3:01 PM.
