Missouri begins guidance on reopening after Stay at Home order has expired

by Macon County Health Department

Governor Mike Parson extended Missouri’s Stay at Home order until May 3, 2020. It is planned, then, on May 4 the state of Missouri will very deliberately begin reopening the economy while maintaining measures designed to protect the health and safety of residents of Missouri. The Governor anticipates to release reopening guidelines by mid-next week. County officials will then have the difficult task to use these guidelines when determining the reopening phases of their county.

“Missouri is incredibly diverse, and our reopening efforts will be careful, deliberate, and done in phases,” Governor Parson said. “We must be ready for a slow but steady road to recovery with some sort of social distancing continuing even as we begin to reopen the economy.”

Governor Parson has started to introduce his plan for “Show Me Strong Recovery” as guidance to reopen. We do not have all the details at this time, but we are confident the reopening process will be slow and happen in stages. Life will not go back to normal on May 4, instead it will take time in order to contain the spread of COVID-19 as individuals begin to emerge from their homes and gather together.

The statewide recovery plan will focus on 4 pillars:

1. Rapidly expand testing capacity

2. Expand our reserves of personal protective equipment (PPE)

3. Continue to monitor and, if necessary, expand hospital and health care system capacity

4. Improve our ability to predict potential outbreaks using Missouri's public health data

The Governor has stated there will be a strong focus on social distancing, and, efforts put into place this month like limiting quantities of customers in stores will still be in place. County officials and the Macon County Health Department are working together to create a plan based on the state guidance for how this reopening will look in Macon County. All information will be released as soon as possible. Whether it be state or local guidance, the first priority is keeping citizens of our county healthy and to contain the spread of COVID-19 during all phases of reopening.

For now, we all need to continue to follow Missouri’s Stay at Home order, only leaving our place of residence for essential needs and to enjoy outside activities, always maintaining a distance of 6 feet from others with gatherings of no more than 10 people maintaining distance.