With omicron in US, Missouri judge cancels local health department COVID orders

The battle against the pandemic has entered a disturbing new phase. A new, highly mutated COVID-19 variant has emerged, called omicron.

The variant has already arrived in the United States, in San Francisco. That means a renewed focus on vaccines, masks, isolation and quarantines.

A COVID-weary nation will resist, and lives will be lost, unnecessarily.

That’s why it’s even more disturbing that an activist judge in Missouri’s Cole County has thrown out dozens of COVID-related orders issued by local health departments. The decision, now rippling through county courthouses and city halls, must be reviewed by state legislators, and adjusted, or even more people will die.

Gov. Mike Parson should pay attention too, or a new winter of despair is likely.

The ruling came from Judge Daniel Green, a Republican. He said Missouri’s Department of Health and Senior Services violated the state constitution when it gave COVID decision-making to local health directors instead of locally elected officials.

“Missouri’s local health authorities have grown accustomed to issuing edicts and coercing compliance,” the judge said in his decision. “It is far past time for this unconstitutional conduct to stop.”

Green did not say mask orders, quarantines and vaccine requirements are inherently illegal in Missouri. Instead, he suggested only county commissions and other elected leaders have the ability to protect public health, not appointed public health directors.

“This case is about whether … (DHSS) can authorize closure of a school or assembly based on the unfettered opinion of an unelected official,” Green wrote.

Try not to smile when any judge complains about “unfettered” opinions.

In a tweet, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said the opinion won’t affect his city, but should be appealed anyway. Here’s why: Mask orders, business closures and vaccine mandates have slowed the spread of COVID-19, and could be critical in fighting the omicron variant.

“Responsible public health mitigation strategies across our state have saved the lives of thousands of Missourians,” Lucas wrote, correctly.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, whose lust for power is only exceeded by his enthusiasm for pandemic illness, plans to “enforce” the judge’s decision, according to his office, although it isn’t clear what that means. Maybe Schmitt will sue someone. He’s pretty good at that.

We’ve got a better idea: The Missouri General Assembly should take up this issue next year. It should settle, once and for all, who can and can’t issue orders and regulations concerning the public’s health.

For 18 months, we’ve said the state government, and Parson, should lead a statewide fight against COVID-19. He has argued against that approach, telling Missourians local governments should exercise their authority.

That worked, until it didn’t: State legislators, angry at aggressive mitigation orders in St. Louis and Kansas City, worked to impose a statewide COVID-19 standard instead. Some wanted to give the legislature the power to overturn a local COVID rule.

Now a judge says local health authorities are powerless to act on their own.

The result of all this confusion is utterly predictable. The COVID-19 death rate in Missouri exceeds the rate in California, North Carolina, even the District of Columbia, with omicron still to come.

Roughly half of Missouri’s eligible residents have received two shots of vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommends a third booster shot for everyone, because of omicron.

We know the COVID pandemic isn’t over. We know Missouri faces a winter of sickness and death unless local and state officials work together to stem the onslaught of the omicron variant. Missourians must work together to prevent that calamity, despite the foolish decision of a local judge.