How can Mike Parson pick the middle of a COVID-19 surge to end Missouri’s emergency?
Gov. Mike Parson’s failure to extend the COVID-19 state of emergency in Missouri is shockingly dangerous. It extends the governor’s record of making the pandemic worse.
It will make more Missourians sick.
Parson announced the decision late Thursday. “There is no longer a need for a state of emergency,” he said in a statement. “We can work together to fight COVID-19 while living our normal lives. It is time to take this final step.”
Does the governor watch the news or read a newspaper? The new omicron COVID-19 variant is surging through the country, including Missouri. Thursday’s daily average of COVID cases was 48% higher than two weeks ago.
The seven-day daily average is higher than it’s been since November — of 2020. In St. Louis, average cases are up 269%. In Jackson County, cases are up 27%.
Some of these Missouri cases are the omicron variant, which appears to be less deadly than other forms of the disease. But that should be small comfort to anyone because some of the cases are the deadlier delta variant.
An explosion of new COVID cases will terrify hospital operators and clinics, as a flood of new patients is expected. Indeed, according to figures kept by The New York Times, hospitalizations are up 13%.
But that’s just one part of the equation. According to figures compiled by the Mid-America Regional Council, local hospitals are at 66% of normal staffing this week. Nurses, doctors and technicians are either sick, on leave or have left the industry.
And “this metric does not capture the increasing severity of the shortage,” the metropolitan planning agency says. “Hospitals are reaching out to the state for additional resources to support growing patient care demands.”
Don’t call the governor, apparently. He’s busy elsewhere.
Missouri, and all states, will face a health care staffing crisis within weeks, if not days. “We must brace for the possible catastrophic impact of the omicron surge on the U.S. health system,” two COVID-19 experts wrote Thursday.
“It is possible that 10 or even 20% of health-care workers could be infected by omicron in the next eight weeks,” wrote Ezekiel Emanuel and Michael Osterholm. “Losing that many health care workers from a system already severely strained by staff shortages would be an enormous challenge.”
Yet Parson’s decision to let the state of emergency lapse means the state’s National Guard won’t be activated to provide needed COVID-related aid to cities, counties and hospitals.
“In Missouri, we never had mandates or forced lockdowns,” Parson’s statement said. That isn’t true, of course; cities and counties that took the virus seriously did impose mask mandates and prohibited large indoor gatherings. Those steps worked.
Until they didn’t. Until politicians like Mike Parson and Attorney General Eric Schmitt decided COVID-19 was no longer a danger. Until they decided to risk the health and safety of their constituents for personal and political reasons.
Until they decided they know more about disease than your local health director.
The governor’s choices during the long pandemic have been ghastly. More than 16,000 people in Missouri have died from COVID-19 since the emergency began, almost two years ago. Parson often acts as if he doesn’t care.
“I don’t even know where you come up with that question of personal responsibility as governor of the state of Missouri when you’re talking about a virus,” Parson said in the summer of 2020. “Do I feel guilty because we have car accidents and people die every day? No, I don’t feel guilty about that.”
In Kansas, flags will fly at half-staff until Friday in remembrance of those who have fallen to COVID-19. It’s the seventh time Gov. Laura Kelly has taken this step.
Missouri will mark the year’s end by making COVID-19 worse.
This story was originally published December 31, 2021 at 5:00 AM.