KC health official says Lake of the Ozarks partygoers should seek coronavirus testing
People who failed to social distance while at the Lake of the Ozarks over Memorial Day weekend should seek testing for COVID-19 and quarantine for 14 days, Kansas City Health Director Rex Archer said Tuesday.
Archer made the remarks while speaking to reporters via video, answering questions submitted beforehand by news reporters. He said that if travelers who failed to follow health guidance at the lake will not quarantine they should “at the very least” wear a mask in public to reduce the chance they spread the virus.
“I do want people to understand that you can get this virus and not know you have it, you can pass it to high-risk people,” he said. Those exposed, he said, should seek testing three to four days after exposure and again before ending their quarantine.
Archer’s comments came after videos on social media showed large numbers of people congregating at the Lake of the Ozarks over Memorial Day weekend and ignoring social distancing guidelines.
Although such gatherings could lead to a spike in cases of the rapidly spreading virus, Archer said he was unsure local or state level actions could have prevented the holiday parties. Mixed messaging from the federal government has “excused or given permission” for activity contrary to health guidelines, Archer said.
“If we had had proper messages, if the CDC had been allowed to be giving daily briefs we might have been able to do differently but given the current differences I don’t think it was probably possible (to prevent the gatherings,” Archer said.
Any spike in cases, Archer said, will not be evident in data for three to five weeks.
In a post on Twitter Monday, Archer said anyone who was in the area and didn’t practice social distancing needed to self-quarantine “if they have any compassion for others.”
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas told The Star Monday that he had no intention of requiring that those individuals self-quarantine, because it was not enforceable.
While speaking to reporters Tuesday, Archer said a quarantine order could be enforced through peer pressure and self-enforcement from citizens.
In Kansas and St. Louis County, public health officials have recommended quarantine for anyone who traveled to the Lake of the Ozarks over the holiday weekend.
