KC-area counties roll back shutdown orders, but it may not be business as usual
In the past day, areas around Kansas City have moved up their shutdown orders, opening the door for businesses to resume operations and for people to venture out and about with far fewer restrictions, starting May 4.
But some local health officials believe it’s not safe yet and residents should ignore the lifting of the stay-at-home orders.
“My message to our folks in Kansas City is, they may open up across the street, but don’t go over there,” said Rex Archer, director of the Kansas City Health Department.
On Wednesday, Clay County said its shutdown order will expire at 11:59 p.m. on May 3.
The announcement was made hours after Gov. Mike Parson said that most Missouri businesses would be able to reopen shortly after the state’s stay-at-home order expires May 3. But he said that directive does not cover St. Louis city and county — which extended their order indefinitely — and Kansas City.
Clay County’s order was initially set to end May 15, the same date as Kansas City’s. Areas in the county that are part of Kansas City will be under the city’s jurisdiction.
North Kansas City followed suit Thursday and changed its order to May 3 from May 15. Cass County said its order also expires May 3.
Under the orders, residents must stay home unless they’re participating in essential activities, such as seeking medical attention or supplies, getting food or going to work at an essential business.
In its revised order, Clay County cited a “stable and low” number of cases and increased testing capabilities that have “measurably improved.”
According to the health department, 154 people in the county have contracted the coronavirus. Of those, 93 were within Kansas City and 61 were non-Kansas City residents.
In Kansas City, 448 people have tested positive, including 13 people who have died. Statewide, more than 6,300 people have been infected with 218 deaths.
As officials grapple with how to balance economic interests with containing the virus, the May 3 switch has created a patchwork of different rules in an area that had been united in its response to the spread of COVID-19.
“Less than one week ago, every heath director in our nine-county bistate region advised our region’s Stay at Home Order remain in place until May 15 based on new infections, inadequate testing, and insufficient contact tracing capabilities,” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said in a statement Wednesday night. “I’m not sure what has changed as a metro.”
Jackson County’s stay-at-home order still runs through May 15, but Ray Dlugolecki said officials are “still kind of assessing where we’re at.”
“It’s possible that we revise that back,” he said Thursday morning during his weekly Facebook Live report.
In an email, the county’s public information officer Marshanna Smith said the county does not plan to scale back its order earlier than regional public health officials advise. Earlier this month, a group of health directors from around the metro recommended May 15.
Regardless of the date, he said, the process will likely be gradual.
“We’re not going to see an immediate return to normalcy,” he said.
‘At our own peril’
The impact of the changed stay-at-home dates depends on “whether their residents ignore those decisions,” said Archer, of the Kansas City Health Department.
“Hopefully a lot of them will because they will say that this doesn’t make sense, it’s not safe to go out.”
In the past two weeks, there has been a reduction in the number of new cases in the Kansas City area. But Archer said data from the 2003 SARS outbreak indicated that two weeks was not enough time and a second wave of infections hit hard.
He also pointed to research on the new coronavirus from the University of Southern California and the L.A. County Department of Public Health which found the infection rate was 28 to 55 times higher than the number of confirmed cases.
“And we’re going to open up our doors and just say ‘Oh let’s go back to business as usual?’” Archer said. “No.”
More testing will provide a clearer picture of the virus’s pervasiveness.
“This is not partisan,” Archer said. “Neither party has built the public health infrastructure that we need to sustain our economy and we’re going to face the consequences. We already are.”
Archer said officials should be finding ways to be opening the economy back up. But it needs to be done carefully, he said, suggesting that some places open by appointment only and that businesses keep a log of customers who can be contacted.
“The epidemic has to be slowed down by testing and contact tracing and isolation and quarantine and the social distancing principles, and if we ignore that, we ignore that at our own peril,” he said.
Clay County
Health officials in Clay County said three changes led to the revised order date.
Gary Zaborac, director of public health for the county, said an additional week of data and updated modeling that showed Missouri had already hit its peak, were important.
Since April 17, when the May 15 date was set, two new testing sites have been added.
“The key and significant change is that our access to testing has increased,” Zaborac said.
Sites in Gladstone and Liberty expect to be able to test about 100 people per day.
Zaborac said his decision was based on health and data, not economic factors.
“We had people who were opposed to the 15th and then we have people who are opposed to now the 3rd,” he said. “It’s gone both ways. What I would tell people is that I understand their concern and we are continuing to evaluate the situation on a daily basis . . . If we didn’t feel that this was an appropriate time based on the data that we could start a little bit earlier, we would not have recommended that.”
Last week when Clay County planned to extend its order to May 15, Clay County Presiding Commissioner Jerry Nolte said he was worried about the economic fallout from COVID-19-related shutdowns.
“Obviously we need to protect public health, but I’m a little concerned that maybe there’s not enough thought being given to when we come out of this,” he said. “How is it that we rebuild the parts of our economy that are so heavily damaged?”
Regardless of the order dates, the virus will still be present.
“It’s important to know that it is not going to be a flip-the-switch and everything goes back to normal,” Zaborac said.
Officials in Clay County are drafting a plan on reopening with input being collected from health officials, the business community and school districts.
Platte County extended its stay-at-home orders to May 15, in line with Kansas City.
Officials in Johnson and Wyandotte counties announced they would remain under Kansas’ statewide COVID-19 stay-at-home order, which Gov. Laura Kelly extended through May 3, rather than following the lead of Kansas City. Health officials said they would reexamine the data to see if a longer order is warranted.
Star reporter Mike Hendricks contributed to this story.
This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 5:36 PM.
