White House says Missouri needs to mandate masks, close bars. Here’s the reality
More than two-thirds of Missouri counties need to close bars and restrict restaurant seating to prevent the spread of COVID-19, according to the latest recommendations by the White House.
Metro areas and counties also need to mandate the wearing of masks where students or teachers have been infected by the virus, according to the White House Coronavirus Task Force report obtained by the Center for Public Integrity.
Last month, Kansas City extended its emergency order requiring face masks indoors until at least mid-January.
But bars are allowed to stay open in the city and the rest of Clay and Jackson counties if they are limited to serving 50% of their normal capacity.
Outside the Kansas City city limits, Jackson, Clay and Platte counties have mask orders that remain in effect until altered by their health departments. Cass County does not have a mask mandate.
Last month, Dr. Deborah Birx, the Trump’s administration’s coronavirus response coordinator, visited Missouri and recommended that the state consider a mask order for all counties with more than 20 active cases.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or a Republican. You need to wear a mask and socially distance,” she said in a press conference with Gov. Mike Parson.
Parson, however, has rejected calls to impose a statewide mask order. He has accused the media of making masking a political issue and saying Missourians who “don’t want to wear a mask should have every right not to wear one.”
Also, Parson has opposed statewide regulations, advocating more for personal responsibility.
The White House recommendations are contained in the report dated Sept. 6, which is sent to governors and includes information about the current state of the pandemic in their states.
In Missouri, 38 counties and 12 metro areas fell in the red zone according to the task force, which means those places reported a rate of new cases above 100 per 100,000 people and lab test positivity results above 10%.
Another 29 counties and 12 metro areas fell in the yellow zone, which indicates they reported a rate of new cases between 10-100 per 100,000 population and a test positivity rate between 5-10%. Or they reported one of those two conditions and one condition qualifying as being in the red zone.
The metro areas in the red zone include St. Joseph, Springfield, Columbia, Joplin, Jefferson City and Cape Girardeau. Meanwhile, Kansas City, Sedalia, Branson, St. Louis, Rolla and Moberly fell in the yellow zone.
The counties in the red zone include Buchanan, Greene, Boone, Jefferson and Franklin. Counties in the yellow zone include Jackson, Clay, Cass, St. Louis and St. Charles.
The task force recommended that “bars must be closed” and indoor dining restricted to 50% of normal capacity for those counties and metro areas in the yellow zone and 25% capacity for those in the red zone. The task force also recommending expanding outdoor dining options.
In Kansas City, 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.
Under their phased-in reopening/recovery plans, Jackson, Clay and Platte counties also require restaurants to reduce seating to allow six-feet distancing between tables. Cass County, which is following the state’s recovery order, also requires seating to allow six-feet distancing between tables.
Kansas City and all four of those counties fell in the yellow zone, which under the White House recommendations would require them to limit restaurant capacity to 50%.
In addition to the mask mandate, the task force recommended using a rapid test to establish a way to monitor weekly the degree of community spread among teachers, first responders and staff at nursing home, assisted living and other congregate living settings.
Missouri as a whole is once again in the red zone for cases, which means that the state has more than 100 new cases per 100,000 in population last week, the report said.
At a rate of 150 new cases per 100,000 people, Missouri ranked the seventh highest in the country, according to the report. The national average is 88 per 100,000 people.
With a 9.7% test positivity rate, the state was in the yellow zone, which indicates a rate between 5 and 10%, according to the report. Missouri had the ninth highest rate in the country.
The positivity rate is important because it gives an indication of how widespread the infection is in an area and whether testing levels are keeping up with the transmission of the disease, according to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
A rate below 5% for at least two weeks was recommended by the World Health Organization before governments considered reopening.
The report points out that three counties — St. Louis, Jackson and Green — had the highest number of new cases over the last three weeks. They accounted for more than 36% of all new cases in Missouri.
During the week of Aug. 24, 9% of the nursing homes in the state had one new resident COVID-19 case, 16% had at least one new staff member test positive for the virus and 6% had at least one new resident death due to COVID-19, the report said.
On average, 92 confirmed COVID-19 patients and 229 suspected COVID-19 patients were reported as newly admitted to Missouri hospitals each day between Aug. 29 and Sept. 4, according to the report.
An average of 92% of the hospitals reported either new confirmed or new suspected COVID-19 patients each day during that period.
The task force also recommended, among other things, that universities increase testing capacity private-public partnerships, use all university, veterinary and research platforms for surveillance and testing of students and, if needed, surrounding communities and consider wastewater surveillance to detect cases early.
“There is no one-size-fits-all approach,” Parson said during the press conference with Birx. “Missouri is extremely diverse and communities across the state all have different needs.
“All of Missouri’s high-risk areas have mask mandates in place, and I support local leaders in that decision.”
This story was originally published September 11, 2020 at 2:55 PM.
