Kansas City mayor relaxes rule for businesses reopening from COVID-19 shutdown
Mayor Quinton Lucas has quietly relaxed a portion of Kansas City’s rules for businesses and places of worship as they start reopening this week from the coronavirus shutdown.
Last week, Lucas announced and signed an order to establish the “10/10/10” rules for nonessential businesses. They must operate at no more than 10% of their normal capacity or only allow 10 people inside — whatever is greater. That part of the order isn’t changing.
But the order also initially said they “must” take down names and time of service for anyone seated in an establishment, such as a hair salon, for more than 10 minutes, as a way to keep track in case anyone was exposed to the coronavirus. It required small religious gatherings to keep similar records.
But now, according to new guidance Lucas signed Monday, the last “10” of the “10/10/10,” involving record-keeping, is optional. The order posted on the city’s website says businesses and religious groups “should consider” collecting such information. It notes names would be subject to confidentiality rules and only used for public health purposes. Attendees of religious gatherings, it says, are not obligated to provide their names.
In a statement Tuesday, Lucas said Kansas City was asking organizations “that typically record attendance, like many church gatherings, restaurants with reservations or stylists with appointments” to maintain records that can be used to trace possible exposures to COVID-19 in the event of an outbreak.
“The government will not create or keep any records,” he said. “Like other outbreaks, from E-coli to measles in our schools, the Health Department is bound to confidentiality as it works with any organization to protect its attendees.”
Lucas’ office said the Health Department recommended several weeks ago that funeral attendees sign in to help with contact tracing.
“As we began expanding the entities that may open under 10/10/10, that guidance remained,” the statement said. “Mayor Lucas reviewed and began updating his Order last Friday to make explicit the last 10 was recommended, but not mandatory. Amended order needed to also be signed by City Clerk and that was done Monday.”
Lucas’ spokeswoman, Morgan Said, said the mayor “understood the recommendation to be one that would be backed primarily by voluntary self-compliance — like many of our orders and regular ordinances.”
“Late last week and over the weekend, the mayor felt clearer guidance expressing the voluntary nature of the requirement would be helpful, so the City could discuss the core public health needs addressed by allowing for contact tracing, rather than engaging in ad nauseum political debate,” she said. “He was able to sign the updated language Monday.”
The Liberty Counsel, a law firm that advocates for religious freedom, claimed credit for the change in a statement after its founder and chairman called Lucas’ policy “Nazi-like” in an interview on Fox News radio earlier Tuesday. In a statement, Mat Staver called the requirement to record names “a gross violation of the First Amendment.”
“Due to the overwhelming public outcry, the Kansas City Mayor reversed course and removed this unconstitutional provision,” Staver said. “That is the good news. The bad news which Kansas City must still remedy is the continued unconstitutional treatment of churches and houses of worship compared to other secular gatherings.”
It was not clear whether any other groups had raised issues about the policy.
The 10/10/10 rules were expected to go into effect Wednesday when businesses previously deemed nonessential — from craft and clothing stores to advertising agencies — were allowed to resume in-person operations.
Last week, in a news conference announcing the rules, Lucas said the city wasn’t trying to be “Big Brother” by gathering names.
Rex Archer, the Kansas City Health Department’s director, said at the time that collecting the information would allow the city to trace outbreaks, find residents who may have been exposed and isolate them to keep the virus from spreading out of control and sparking another shutdown. The coronavirus, Archer said, is not gone.
“It’s still going to be present in every state, so as we ease these restrictions, if we don’t have the capacity to quickly put out that outbreak, that fire, then we’ll be back to very Draconian measures,” Archer said.
Lucas, along with leaders from across the metro, had issued a sweeping stay-at-home order in late March, ordering nonessential offices to close in-person operations and allow employees to work from home. He also shuttered restaurant dine-in service and nonessential retailers.
Starting Wednesday, businesses will begin what Lucas calls a “soft reopening.” More will open on May 15. Here’s what you need to know:
▪ Nonessential businesses that serve the public can only have in their establishments up to 10% of their normal capacity or 10 individuals — whichever is greater — at a given time. That includes the employees needed to operate the business.
▪ Nonessential businesses that aren’t open to the public, like offices, can reopen as long as they allow for social distancing between employees.
▪Businesses and places of worship “should consider” maintaining name and contact information for individuals who spend more than 10 minutes in their establishment to help public health officials trace the spread of the coronavirus.
▪ Essential businesses are not affected. Those include, grocery stores, health operations, hardware stores, banks, dry cleaners and a host of other businesses deemed necessary to sustain the community’s basic needs.
▪ Small religious gatherings, including services, weddings and funerals, can resume, provided they adhere to social distancing rules. They, too, are asked to consider keeping records of attendees. They are limited to 10% of the building’s capacity or 10 people inside (whichever is greater) and 50 people outside.
▪ Some places — restaurants, bars, gyms, government buildings, city-maintained playground equipment, museums and the Kansas City Zoo — will remain closed until at least May 15.
Though stay-at-home orders went into effect nearly uniformly across the metropolitan area to battle the spread of COVID-19, the “reopening” won’t be so organized.
Johnson, Jackson and Wyandotte counties will allow business to slowly reopen starting May 11.
Clay, Platte and Cass counties already relaxed their stay-at-home orders as of this week. Parts of Kansas City that lie in those counties are still subject to Kansas City rules.
This story was originally published May 5, 2020 at 5:10 PM.
