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Nearly a month ago, when Gov. Mike Parson announced he was extending his “Stay Home Missouri” order through May 3 and began outlining his plan to gradually reopen the state beginning on May 4, the decision was met with varying degrees of acceptance from state residents.
Parson’s “Show Me Strong Recovery Plan” rests on what he described as “four essential pillars” — expanding testing capacity and volume; 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 state’s ability to predict potential outbreaks using Missouri’s public health data.
Now, days after the plan took effect and most businesses were allowed to reopen — as long as they follow certain public health protocols including social distancing where possible and better sanitization procedures — opinions among Perry County residents and business owners are still divided.
“I am a small business owner and we are following all the guidelines set forth by the health department,” said Paula Willis of Perryville, responding to a social media post asking for comment. “I am so grateful for the reopening even with the restrictions. Just use common sense and we will get through this.”
Others have a different view. Parson’s order came two weeks after the Perry County Commission issued its stay-at-home order on March 25.
“I believe Gov. Parson waited too long to enact a statewide stay-at-home order and opened up too early considering we, as a state, did not meet the recommended guidelines,” said Joyce Wright, also of Perryville, responding to the same post. “He caved to political pressure.”
The guidelines Wright references were issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and endorsed by President Donald Trump last month. One of the primary suggestions is a “downward trajectory of documented cases within a 14-day period, or a downward trajectory of positive tests as a percent of total tests within a 14-day period.”
That hasn’t happened yet in Missouri — at least as a whole. According to a report from the state Department of Health and Senior Services on Tuesday, there have been 8,916 cases of COVID-19 reported in Missouri with 377 deaths. More than half of those cases were reported in the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County.
The state reported 368 new cases Monday, the highest one-day total since the pandemic hit the state. The number of new cases has increased in Missouri each day since April 29.
Many of the new cases include large groups of individuals who were recently tested, including a group of nearly 300 positive tests for COVID-19 at a meat-packing plant in St. Joseph.
In many rural areas like Perry County, the numbers were never high, but, in most cases, swift action at the local level has kept the number of infected low. The last time a new case was reported in Perry County was April 29 and was one of two detected during a mass-testing event that saw 338 tests administered by the county health department.
Before that, the last time a new case was reported was on April 25, which came after a week of no new cases.
“The health department knew right away when our first cases started to come in that we were up for a challenge,” said Perry County Health Department director Sylvia Forester. “We were able to work with local leaders to create a plan to prevent a bad situation from turning worse.”
That decision drew praise from the private sector as well.
“I think our county and city officials did the right thing to enact a shelter-at-home order at the first sign of community spread,” Wright said.
Among the hardest hit by the county and state stay-at-home orders were bars and taverns, like Willis’ Lounge 5:05 Club.
She said the reopening came just in time, no matter how much extra effort is involved.
“It’s more work sanitizing everything over and over but I could not stay closed,” Wilis said. “I didn’t qualify for any programs and another two weeks and I would not be able to feed myself nor be able to think about having the money to open back up.”
Another concern among many residents is the possibility of infection coming from outside the county, particularly Illinois. The Chester Bridge in Perry County is the only Mississippi River crossing between St. Louis and Cape Girardeau and serves more than 6,000 vehicles a day.
The bridge directly connects Perry County to Randolph County, Ill., which has reported nearly 200 total cases, including more than 120 active cases, more than 60 recoveries and two deaths.
“I think if we proceed it should be with great caution,” said Lydia Bohnert of Perryville. “We have done really good in self-quarantine here in Perryville and perhaps the spread has been slowed or even contained to some extent but just across the river, I think, is a very different story and we can expect an influx of visitors to our community. I just think we need to be safe and not sorry.”
