Missouri governor says COVID-19 case jump should be viewed in context
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
Gov. Mike Parson pointed to large-scale testing at a COVID-19 hot spot as a major reason for a jump in COVID-19 cases on the day Missouri reopened for business.
Parson, speaking at his daily COVID-19 briefing in the Capitol on Monday, referred to testing at Triumph Foods in St. Joseph when answering a question about a nearly 370-case increase.
You can watch a replay of the news conference in the media player below.
The state tested about 3,000 workers at the meat processing plant, with 373 employees who were not showing symptoms testing positive as of Sunday. Parson said the state also took a random sample of 3,000 Missourians and only nine of those tested positive.
Dr. Randall Williams, head of the state health department, said the random testing was done in southeast Missouri counties.
Monday's increase was the highest single-day jump since the pandemic began. Four deaths were also reported.
The numbers must be understood in context of the entire state, Parson said.
Williams said many of the new cases are in people not showing symptoms, who might be less contagious than those who are. He said the average number of new cases per day would be on par with recent activity if the Triumph cases are taken out.
He said the next two weeks will be critical, but he believes the state has seen enough improvement to safely reopen. However, cases and deaths will not stop, Parson said.
"People are going to get sick and some people are going to die,” Parson said.
Missouri's reopening order allows all businesses to open back up. The order also allows local governments to put their own orders in place with more stringent regulations on business.
One of those local jurisdictions is Boone County, which has its own reopening order in place indefinitely. Boone County's order keeps occupancy limits in place for retail buildings and mandates that some businesses, including bars and movie theaters, remain closed.
Some jurisdictions are seeing slower growth in COVID-19 cases than others. Boone County, where 96 people have tested positive for COVID-19, has only four active cases.
Much smaller Moniteau County has 15 active cases. Saline County had 106 active cases as of Sunday. Each of those Mid-Missouri counties has one of the highest infection rates in the state.
State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick joined Parson to highlight money sent to local governments from the federal CARES Act stimulus bill.
Fitzpatrick said two Mid-Missouri counties -- Osage and Randolph -- have not submitted complete paperwork to get their share of the money. He said officials from other states have talked about using Missouri's process for certifying local governments for funding because of its efficiency.
