Update: Grundy County now has 10 COVID-19 cases, with the latest two individuals isolated at home. Close contacts have been notified. Sullivan County has 88 cases, 34 of which are active. The latest additional cases are community related and officials are attempting to identify close contacts.
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Additional cases of COVID-19 continue to be added in north Missouri, with three area counties announcing more coronavirus infections.
The Sullivan County Health Department reported seven additional cases on Thursday, bringing the total to 79 since testing began. Of that total, 25 cases remain active. Department officials state that all cases have been determined to be community related and that close contacts of the infected individuals are being notified regarding how to proceed with quarantine measures.
Mercer County had one additional case reported on Thursday, bringing the county total to five. One of those individuals is out of self-isolation. No other information was made available by the health department.
Livingston County also has one more case, bringing its total to five. Livingston County Health Center Director Sherry Weldon said the case is travel-related and that the individual is isolating at home. Efforts are under way to notify all individuals who may have been exposed to provide guidelines and monitoring for development of symptoms.
The Grundy County Health Department reported its eighth case on Thursday, with that individual isolating in their home and close contacts being notified. Grundy County has added four cases during the past week.
The report of additional cases in north Missouri comes at the same time Gov. Mike Parson has announced the state will be moving into Phase 2 of the “Show Me Strong Recovery” plan on Tuesday. He said Missouri has met the four pillars set forth in Phase 1 to move ahead and “fully reopen.”
During Phase 2, there will be no statewide health order, with all statewide restrictions being lifted. However, local officials will still have the authority to put further rules, regulations or ordinances in place.
The decision to reopen was dependent on the state meeting criterial in four areas outlined in Phase 1, including expanding testing capacity and volume in the state; expanding reserves of PPE by opening public and private supply chains; continuing to monitor and, if necessary, expand hospital and health care system capacity; and improving the ability to predict potential outbreaks using the state’s public health data. Parson noted that weekly testing in Missouri has increased more than 220 percent from April 20 to May 25, when 53,000 tests were conducted over a week’s period. In the past two weeks, the state has averaged more than 10,000 tests per weekday, he said.
In preparation for Phase 2, Gov. Parson signed an executive order to extend the state of emergency declaration in Missouri through Dec. 30 to allow for utilization of CARES Act funding as well as giving the state the flexibilty to deploy resources around the state. The order also extends four previous executive orders through Dec. 30, including easing regulatory burdens and certain provisions related to telemedicine and motor carriers; allowing the sale of unprepared restaurant foods to the public; mobilizing the National Guard in response efforts; and waiving the requirement for a person to be physically present in front of a notary public.