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Several community events have been canceled in the wake of a public advisory issued Tuesday by the Perry County Health Department regarding a recent spike in cases of COVID-19.
The advisory, issued via the health department’s Facebook page, advised county residents that the department was “strongly discouraging” attendance at any large social gatherings and “strongly encouraging” people to instead spend time within their own family household unit.
“Perry County is currently ranked in the top 10 counties in the state of Missouri for the highest number positive cases of COVID-19 per capita,” said health department director Sylvia Forester. “Additionally, our community has over 70 active cases and over 150 close contacts to positive cases that the Perry County Health Department has asked to self-isolate at home.”
Among the events canceled or postponed are Friday’s fireworks show presented by the Rotary Club of Perryville; Saturday’s Cruise-In on the square in downtown Perryville; Mayfest, which had already been rescheduled July 10-11 for the first time in 35 years; and — for the first time in 120 years — the St. Vincent de Paul Seminary Picnic.
As of Monday, Perry County had seen a 134.4 percent increase in total cases, rising from 62 on June 1 to 143 on June 29. According to Monday’s report from the county health department, there were more than 70 active cases in Perry County with six being treated in hospitals, three of them on ventilators.
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By comparison, the health department in neighboring Cape Girardeau County — which has nearly four times the population of Perry County — reported 159 confirmed cases on Monday, with 53 active cases and three deaths.
On Tuesday, the state Department of Health and Senior Services reported 21,551 confirmed cases in Missouri with 1,015 deaths.
“The next 2 weeks in Perry County have the potential to turn a bad situation even worse,” Forester said in Tuesday’s statement. “If citizens do not take personal responsibility and avoid large crowds and events, wear masks when within 6 feet of others, and stay home if they are sick or are awaiting test results, we may see an even higher increase in the number of COVID-19 positive cases and close contacts in our community.”
Tuesday’s health advisory drew praise from Perry County presiding commissioner Mike Sauer, who said following public health guidelines was not “rocket science.”
“We know for a fact that we’ve got several cases where individuals who have either been tested or have tested positive but have continued to go out and about and do their thing and expose other people,” Sauer said. “It’s such a simple concept. Quarantine until you hear you get results back.”
Sauer also offered the same advice that’s been issued by the health department since the outbreak began, but added that the county has no intention at this time of issuing another stay-at-home order.
“We really want to stress hard that everybody, when they’re in public around people, to wear a mask, and to continue to really sanitize themselves and wash their hands,” Sauer said. “We’re not going to put any kind of orders in place. People just need to pay attention and do the right thing. If you’re going to be out in public, have a mask with you. If you end up around people, put the mask on. Wash your hands. Just pay attention and be careful.”
As for this weekend’s events, Rotary Club fireworks committee spokesman Beth Guth praised the health department, saying the organization wanted to do its part by postponing the fireworks show scheduled for Friday until a later date.
“We know that the health department has discouraged large social gatherings and we just want to recognize the hard work the health department is doing and do our part in helping keep our community safe,” Guth said.
Perry County Economic Development director Scott Sattler, who’s been serving as the acting chairman of Perryville’s Downtown Revitalization Committee, said the decision to cancel the July Cruise-In, which had been scheduled for Saturday, was made in advance of the health department’s advisory.
“For this weekend, even before they issued that [statement], we decided to not have the Cruise-In this weekend,” Sattler said. “They didn’t tell us we had to or anything. It’s just a precaution. With everything going on and all the cases, I just feel a little more comfortable going ahead and not having the event this weekend.”
As for Mayfest — which was rescheduled for the first time in 35 years to comply with the statewide stay-at-home order earlier this year, the decision to cancel was difficult.
The Perryville Chamber of Commerce board of directors issued a statement on Wednesday saying, “The Chamber of Commerce has made the very difficult decision to cancel this year’s Mayfest event. We appreciate all of our sponsors and volunteers who were willing and ready to support this year’s event, and we hope to continue to have your support in the future.”
As for the next big event in the community, the second annual Heroes for Kids Comic Con, which is scheduled for July 18 at the Perry Park Center, organizers said they are keeping an eye on the situation.
“We plan to wait and see,” said Heroes for Kids board member Jessica Johnson. “The advisory is for the next two weeks and our event is three weeks away. Right now, everything is still on schedule. We’ll be following the guidelines set by the city for the Perry Park Center.”
St. Vincent de Paul’s Father Joe Geders issued a statement Wednesday morning regarding the decision to cancel the Seminary picnic, saying, “Several weeks ago, the Picnic Committee met and proposed having a shortened version of the picnic.
At that time, the rate of community spread of the virus was at a fairly low rate.
However, the situation has deteriorated significantly the last two weeks, as noted by the Perry County Health Department. We simply cannot move forward with the picnic and risk further community spread of the pandemic.
“I want to thank the Picnic committee for their assistance in making this decision and all of those who work each year for the success of our picnic,” Geders continued. “I hope we can work during the coming year to make the 2021 edition of the Seminary Picnic an even greater success.”
In her statement Tuesday, Forester said fighting the spread of COVID-19 will take a community-wide effort.
“If we are going to fight this worsening spread, we are going to have to come together as a community,” Forester said. “Every citizen, business, and organization has a role to play and the daily choices we each make are going to shape how Perry County comes out of this pandemic. Let’s work on making our community safe for our families, friends, neighbors, and visitors. We appreciate the individuals who are following public health recommendations, but as a whole we can do better. We have to do better.”
