St. Patrick’s Day comes as coronavirus numbers wane two years into pandemic

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Thursday will mark the first St. Patrick's Day in Columbia without COVID-19 restrictions and the two-year anniversary of the pandemic's beginning in Boone County. An ABC 17 News crew reported seeing people starting to fill the streets as early as noon Thursday.

Last year, the city and county were under restrictions that included limits to the number of people who could be in an entertainment venue and mask requirements. These days, no such burdens exist, with the omicron wave having passed and cases at low levels.

General Manager Paul Huesgen at Flat Branch Pub and Brew says they required their staff to mask up until the first Monday of March. Huesgen says they opened their doors at 11 a.m. Thursday morning and had a line of people outside of their door. He says that the mask requirement is now lifted and feels the warm weather has brought a lot of people out to celebrate. 

"People have a place of community for the locals and so it feels like the heartbeat of Columbia is back when everybody sees all your local restaurants thriving," said Huesgen.

The Columbia/Boone County Health Department noted the anniversary as Thursday marks two years since the state's first death from COVID-19, which was recorded in Boone County.

"We advised countless businesses and their employees in best practices to keep themselves and their customers safe," the Columbia/Boone County health department said in a Facebook post. "Worship leaders, school nurses and business owners offered free space for us to host vaccination clinics, allowing us to bring the vaccine directly to the people. Without the community support over the past two years, the pandemic would have likely had a very different effect on our community."

Coronavirus cases remain low in Boone County, as they have for weeks. The county reported just 12 new cases Thursday, and only one person has been hospitalized with COVID-19 was in intensive care. The rate of new daily cases has dropped nearly tenfold from the omicron peak.

Johns Hopkins reported Thursday about 7,000 new tests have been administered over the last week, down from nearly 40,000 during omicron's peak.