Parson allows restaurants to sell unprepared food in bid to fight bare store shelves

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Gov. Mike Parson said Monday that state officials are relaxing regulations on how restaurants sell food.

Parson said during his daily COVID-19 briefing at the Capitol that his administration is overriding local regulations that prevent restaurants from selling unprepared food.

The move is meant to help address bare shelves seen in grocery stores statewide.

"Many of you have seen bare grocery store shelves," Parson said. "I want to assure you, This is a demand issue, not a supply issue. Our food supply remains strong, and our farmers, ranchers, processors, manufacturers and grocery stores across the state are working hard to keep the shelves restocked."

Parson's talk included several administrative actions to relax medical regulations to allow for more health care providers to work on COVID-19 cases.

You can watch a video of the governor's news conference in the media player below.

Parson tweeted Monday afternoon there are at least 183 positive cases of novel coronavirus across the state.

More than 70 new cases were confirmed Monday. There are at least 39 cases in Mid-Missouri. Boone, Cole and Callaway counties all confirmed new cases.