KC health officials want mask mandate extended, even as COVID cases trend downward
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Masks in the Kansas City region
Here’s the latest on masks and the coronavirus in Kansas City and the surrounding areas.
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The Kansas City Health Department on Wednesday recommended the City Council extend the city’s mask mandate even as COVID-19 cases across the metro trend downward.
Kansas City’s mandate, which went into effect on Aug. 2, applies to those over the age of 5 in indoor spaces regardless of vaccination status, with some exemptions.
Frank Thompson, interim health director, told the Transportation, Infrastructure and Operations Committee on Wednesday that cases have seen a downward trend since the mask order was implemented.
The health department recommended the city maintain the mask order for all places of public accommodation until it no longer is in the high risk threshold defined by the Centers for Disease Control. Still, the city is in a “much better” place than it was a month ago, Thompson said.
“And if this trajectory continues ... by the time (the order) expires, we should be at a point where we can look at beginning to pull back some of the mask orders for the public,” Thompson said.
Kansas City still has a “long way to go” in vaccinating residents, Thompson said. Areas with the highest case rates continue to be those that also have the lowest vaccination rates, he said.
He added that just about every COVID-19 hospitalization is preventable with the protection offered by vaccines. Unvaccinated people who fall sick with the coronavirus take up space in emergency rooms and ICUs, he said. It’s not a “huge issue, but it is an unnecessary part,” Thompson said.
As of Tuesday, the the area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas, gained 247 new cases for a total of 196,829 to date.
The weekly rolling average for daily cases fell to 332 from 399 last week. Last month, it was at 562.
Across Kansas City, 46.5% of people have completed vaccination. The U.S. is averaging 56% with a goal of 70%.
The City Council will meet and vote on whether to extend the mandate at 3 p.m. on Thursday at City Hall.
Earlier this week, Jackson County legislators voted to extend the county’s mask order another 30 days. The decision was met with heckling from some members of the sparsely attended meeting who vowed “we’re not going away.”
Due to new Missouri law, public health restrictions are required to be reviewed by the council every 30 days. Local and national health experts have pointed to masks and vaccination as the most promising path toward controlling the pandemic.
This story was originally published October 6, 2021 at 1:15 PM.
