Superspreader sessions? Are Kansas and Missouri lawmakers playing with public health?
Could the Kansas legislative session be a COVID-19 superspreader when it starts Jan. 11 — and when lawmakers return home to every nook and cranny of the state?
Gov. Laura Kelly is fearful it might be.
“Yeah, I am,” she told The Star Editorial Board. “There’ll be a lot of people in one building. If I had my druthers, they would do this virtually. I think it’s going to be very, very difficult (to keep people safe) when you have 165 legislators, you have staff, and we will have the general public coming in and out, unless they shut it down.”
The governor is right to be concerned, as every Kansan should be. And every Missourian, for that matter. On the Missouri side, former state representative and now state Sen. Greg Razer, a Democrat from Kansas City, puts it most bluntly:
“It is the most dangerous place that I will be,” he says of the Missouri General Assembly’s gathering in Jefferson City that begins Wednesday.
Indeed, a legislative session features the three “V’s” of superspreader events: venue (multiple people indoors), ventilation (breathing the same indoor air) and vocalization (talking, yelling, singing), which aerosolizes the virus.
Even with diligent disease-prevention planning by Kansas legislative leaders, the governor’s office and the University of Kansas — including distancing, plexiglass, audio-visual enhancements for remote viewings of meetings and more — this virus has a way of spreading.
To be fair, legislators in both Kansas and Missouri say their state constitutions require meeting in person no matter what (though that needs to change). And Kansas Speaker of the House Ron Ryckman Monday issued extensive safety protocols that include not only the usual precautions but also placing many House members in the gallery and allowing them to vote electronically.
“The people of Kansas elected us to do a job, and we have the solemn responsibility to work on their behalf,” says Senate President Ty Masterson, a Republican from Andover. “This is not a sporting event or a concert, it’s the Kansas Legislature. There are pressing issues that Kansans expect us to tackle — especially during challenging times when many Kansans are hurting and working to provide for their families. We are implementing protocols and other precautions to conduct our constitutional duties as safely as possible, but the business of the people must continue.”
We certainly get that a legislative session is a tad more obligatory than a concert. But can’t the session adjourn for a few weeks or even months until more vaccinations have been administered?
“I’ve actually heard that suggested,” Kelly says. “That’s just not a step that the Legislature’s decided to take.”
Moreover, no protocols can keep you safe if they’re violated. For instance, Ryckman says lawmakers can’t be forced to wear masks, one of the main COVID-19 protocols. And based on his experience in the Missouri House last year, Razer said, “I would expect that perhaps 50% of the legislators will refuse to wear masks, and talk very closely to people.”
Meanwhile, as the general public is wisely told not to even gather with friends, 165 legislators and support staff will get together for several months and then scatter to every corner of Kansas. The same will be true in Missouri. Doesn’t make much sense, does it?
“I think about that,” says new Kansas Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, a Democrat from Lenexa. “I have been very cautious. But yeah, it’s a concern going back even to my own home.”
Sykes says she is encouraged by what she’s seen in the list of House protocols — “I think it is a definite improvement, a lot better than I was probably expecting” — and hopes for similar safeguards in the Senate.
“I am going to hope that there’s a good faith effort from our incoming Senate president to be a leader and show that he cares about the safety of not only the Legislature but of all Kansans — making sure that we’re taking every measure possible to protect them,” Sykes said.
But how confident can lawmakers be? Sykes said one of the senators in her caucus lost her brother to coronavirus Sunday night.
Laments Kelly: “We’re just going to have to do what we can to make it as safe as possible for them. And I hope it works.”
But as has been oft stated, hope is not a strategy.
If you are hell-bent on doing this, lawmakers, at least wear masks. You owe it to not only your colleagues, but also your constituents.