Kansas City to ease COVID rules on bars, restaurants and gatherings, mayor says
Kansas City will roll back most of its COVID-19 restrictions for bars, restaurants and indoor gatherings, Mayor Quinton Lucas announced Friday. The changes were to take effect at 10 p.m. Friday.
For months, City Hall has limited bars and restaurants to serving just 50% of their normal capacity. They’ve been required since January to close at midnight. Indoor gatherings, including weddings and public events, were subject to a 10-person limit unless they had a waiver from the Health Department.
That, Lucas said Friday, was to avoid a “devastating surge” in the virus during the holiday season and Chiefs Super Bowl run. But now, with weeks of decline in new COVID-19 cases, Lucas said the city is returning to rules that largely match what it had last fall.
“We got through Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, Chiefs Super Bowl run, and we’re proud of the fact that our stricter regulations made sure that our region stayed safer,” Lucas said at a news conference in the City Council chamber. “We said then these restrictions were meant to get us through a very tough time, and they did.”
Officials also announced that the Big 12 men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will be played in Kansas City, but crowds will be limited to 20% capacity. The men’s tournament at T-Mobile Center is scheduled for March 10-13 and the women’s event at Municipal Auditorium on March 11-14.
As the pandemic took hold in Kansas City last March, those tournaments were canceled. Lucas said this year is different.
“We know more about COVID-19,” he said, “and we know more about the spread of COVID-19” as well as safety measures.
On Friday, the metropolitan area added 209 new COVID cases, down significantly since the holiday season when the average grew as high as 1,200. To date, the virus has killed 1,939 people in the Kansas City area.
Under the updated emergency order, restaurants must still space parties six feet apart — measured from back of chair to back of chair. But they can serve as close to their normal capacities as that distancing allows. They’re allowed to stay open for their normal hours. Events such as weddings and conferences aren’t limited aside from the building capacities where they take place.
But Lucas said the city would still be strict about enforcing its social distancing and mask rules. People must wear masks at bars, restaurants and events unless they are actively eating or drinking. Lucas said the city’s strict enforcement set it apart from other area jurisdictions.
Lucas said the restrictions would be in place until May 1.
The new restrictions come as Kansas and Missouri see their first cases of a COVID-19 variant considered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to be more transmissible. The variant, which originated in the United Kingdom, is expected to become the dominant strain in the U.S. by the spring.
Asked if the new rules would be as effective against the variants, Lucas said the best things the city can do are maintain social distancing and get people vaccinated.
He acknowledged the rules might not be as effective in curbing the spread of the new strain. But just as the city resumed stricter rules in November to prevent a holiday spike, he said, it will respond if the new strain makes that necessary again.
“We will always make sure our rules match the challenge that confronts us,” Lucas said.
The announcement also does away with the waiver system required to hold large events. Under Lucas’ previous order, event organizers needed the Health Department’s approval on any gathering larger than 10 people.
Disney on Ice, the first spectator event held at T-Mobile Center since the 2020 Big 12 Tournament was shut down, broke those rules, leading the city to stop the weekend’s performances earlier this month. Lucas said the reason was a COVID-19 outbreak among Disney on Ice staff that was not reported to City Hall.
Lucas said he understood from the Kansas City Sports Commission that the NCAA and Big 12 regularly test for COVID-19 and follow safeguards.
“I think we will see a very different situation than we would from the Disney on Ice promoters,” Lucas said. “I think they would have to do that, or else they won’t be playing in a tournament thereafter or anything of the sort.”
He added of the Big 12 Tournament: “But I do think it would be something that’s safe to attend.”
When Kansas City and other governments began limiting gatherings to curb the spread of COVID-19, they talked about investing in contact tracing to quickly identify cases and isolate people to prevent mass community spread.
“I think it’s fair to say that we’ve never been able to achieve our contact tracing goals to the extent that we would like,” Lucas said.
Lucas also spoke Friday about Kansas City’s progress toward vaccinations. He said despite the city’s efforts, the percentage of Jackson County residents who have been vaccinated lags the rest of the state.
He said he would press Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to release demographic data on vaccine distribution, noting that Latinx people are more likely to die of COVID-19 and less likely to be vaccinated.
The city is also working through community organizers to get the word out about getting vaccinated, he said.
Jackson County Executive Frank White issued a statement following Lucas’ news conference saying he was still evaluating the county’s current COVID-19 order. While he said the county would continue working to keep its rules consistent with neighboring areas, it would keep following the science. He doesn’t expect to announce any changes until late next week.
Johnson County health officials on Thursday said that with COVID-19 numbers improving, the county is “inching toward” a date when restrictions could be rolled back but gave no recommendation when. The restrictions are set to expire at the end of March.
This story was originally published February 19, 2021 at 12:16 PM.
