Kansas City-area health directors want stay-at-home orders extended through May 15
Public health officers and directors in the Kansas City region are recommending that local stay-at-home orders be extended through May 15 amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement Wednesday distributed through the Mid-America Regional Council, the officials suggested the three-week extension “based on estimates of the anticipated peak of infection” in the metro at the end of April.
The recommendation is also based on a need for infrastructure and staff in place to monitor future COVID-19 cases and the need for a joint policy to slow the spread among different counties and cities in the area.
The statement said it represented “regional public health officers and directors in the nine-county Kansas City metropolitan area.”
The current 30-day orders in Kansas City and surrounding counties have been in effect since March 24 and are set to expire April 24. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas earlier this week said discussions were underway to extend the shutdown.
“It’s important that we look at the data on the virus and react accordingly,” Rex Archer, director of the Kansas City Health Department, said in the statement. “We believe this timeline is what is best for the region to keep people safe.”
Allen Greiner, chief medical officer for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, added that the stay-at-home method seems to be working, and officials hope to ease restrictions “as soon as it’s safe.”
For now, Greiner said in the statement, “it’s very important that residents continue to comply with the stay-at-home orders.”
“We recognize our metro residents are making tremendous sacrifices and are concerned about their jobs, their businesses and their families,” Joseph LeMaster, public health officer for Johnson County, added in the statement. “We are constantly looking at data to determine how we balance public health with economic concerns.”
This story was originally published April 15, 2020 at 9:16 PM.
