Today’s COVID-19 cases, as reported by Missouri DHSS at 3:00 p.m. on April 8, 2020. These numbers are subject to change throughout the day.
Positive cases in Missouri: 3,327
Click here for an interactive map.
St. Louis County asks for National Guard help in COVID-19 response
St. Louis County Executive Sam Page updates the public about COVID-19 (coronavirus) preparedness on Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. At right is Spring Schmidt, co-director of the Saint Louis County Department of Public Health.
St. Louis County Executive Dr. Sam Page has asked for help from the Missouri National Guard as the region prepares for an escalation of the COVID-19 virus. He made the formal request to Gov. Mike Parson.
“As we prepare for the surge of this pandemic, the National Guard can play a critical role in helping us transport patients and supplies to free up our healthcare professionals to focus on treatment and care of our residents,” said Page.
He wants members of the National Guard to also aid with security at hospitals, testing sites, the county’s warehouse and at the North County Recreation Center, which has been opened to house the unsheltered. Additionally, Page says the county also needs med techs to enhance staff at triage and testing sites.
In St. Louis County, it leads the state hands down in the number of people testing positive for the coronavirus and also deaths linked to the respiratory illness. At least 1,200 have come down with COVID-19 and 15 have died so far.
According to Gov. Mike Parson’s Communications Director, Kelli Jones, the Missouri National Guard has a liaison officer assigned to St. Louis County and is currently working with the county. The State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) is awaiting the specific request that Page’s letter states the county is working to prepare. SEMA will review the request at the time it is submitted, as it does with all requests to determine how to potentially support.
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Missouri House expected to approve $5.8 billion supplemental on Wednesday; masks ready for members
The Missouri House will return to Jefferson City Wednesday afternoon, to debate and vote on the unprecedented proposed $5.8 billion supplemental budget, to battle the COVID-19 outbreak.
Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, strikes the gavel in Jefferson City on March 18, 2020 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)
Missouri House Budget Director Dan Haug testified Tuesday before the Senate Appropriations Committee, while wearing a mask to protect himself. Many of the senators and staff members also wore masks.
Director Haug testifies that the overwhelming majority of the proposed $5.8 billion supplemental is federal money. According to Haug, the breakdown is as follows: $5.1 billion in federal funds, $247 million in state dollars and $379 million in other funding.
The Senate will convene again on Wednesday morning, and the Missouri House will gavel-in Wednesday at 1 p.m. Both chambers are expected to approve the supplemental budget on Wednesday, sending it to the governor’s desk.
House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, tells Missourinet that every House member has masks that have been placed in their Capitol mailbox in Jefferson City. The House has 163 members, and most of them will stay in their offices during Wednesday’s debate, until they have to vote.
House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, tells Missourinet that the House will maintain social distancing on Wednesday.
State Sen. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg, wore a mask during the April 7, 2020 Senate Appropriations Committee hearing (photo courtesy of Senator Hoskins’ Twitter page)
Governor Mike Parson says the Capitol received a deep cleaning in the two weeks that it was closed to the general public. That deep cleaning included the Senate and House chambers. The Capitol had been closed to the public, until Tuesday.
Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, has been urging the general public to stay at home and view the proceedings on the legislative websites.
There will be nurses stationed again at the Capitol entrance on Wednesday, and any visitor will have their temperature taken. Leader Rowden says visitors will also be questioned about their health, travel and known COVID-19 exposure.
State health officials have announced that Missouri now has 3,037 confirmed COVID-19 cases, along with 53 deaths. The state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) announced the updated numbers this afternoon. The numbers have increased from Monday’s total of 2,722 cases and 39 deaths.
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Missouri Senate panel wraps up work on $5.8 billion coronavirus response plan
A Missouri Senate committee with a say in the state’s piggy bank has sifted through Gov. Mike Parson’s request for $5.8 billion in extra cash during the current state budget year. Members of the Senate Appropriations Committee did the work while some of them donned protective masks and kept their social distance from one another. The committee hearing was live streamed so the surroundings were absent of some staffers, lobbyists, media and members of the public.
The funding plan, which would be used in the state’s response to the coronavirus, includes $5.1 billion in federal funds, $247.5 million in state dollars and $379 million in other funding. When the federal money would come in, exactly how much Missouri would get and if it will be a lump sum or a round of payments is unknown.
Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on April 7, 2020. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the hearing was live streamed and some committee members wore face masks.
Some of the highlights of the request include about $1 billion in federal funds to Missouri communities and $900 million to the Missouri Department of Public Safety to help the state and local governments pay for protective equipment.
During the committee hearing, State Budget Director Dan Haug says the market on personal protective equipment to fight the coronavirus is ridiculous.
“We think a 90-day supply, which would take us through the end of the fiscal year of PPE – the personal protective equipment, is about $150 million,” he says. “That’s very fluid. I will tell you we had an order for PPE for 30 days. It cost us 18 million dollars. A week later, it cost us $40 million.”
Sen. Jeanie Riddle, R-Mokane, says she represents counties with zero personal protective equipment.
“Not for firefighters, not for law enforcement, not for their health care providers – nothing. So, I hope that we have the access to be able to distribute that money around the state and not just two communities only,” says Riddle.
An estimated $600 million would be reserved for temporary hospital sites – roughly $100 million each for three months. Whether or not the state actually needs these places as hospital overflow locations will depend on the severity of the respiratory virus throughout the state. Under the plan, the state would hire 199 full-time equivalent temporary employees to help at these sites.
Another big chunk of cash – $1.5 billion in federal funds – would be for K-12 public schools and $304 million in federal dollars would aid Missouri’s colleges and universities.
The Missouri Department of Mental Health could get $22 million in federal money to help with crisis counseling, suicide prevention programs and individuals with developmental disabilities.
For the Missouri Department of Social Services, the state would provide nearly $334,000 to help with additional nursing care, $528,000 in federal money to help victims of domestic violence and $40 million in federal funding for nursing homes.
Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, spoke about the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on Missouri nursing homes, specifically about personal protective gear. Eigel, a member of the Senate Conservative Caucus, said they need additional funding and offered an amendment to prioritize $125 million for the care centers. Haug said the amendment would result in cuts to other places in the budget.
Several members voiced support for Eigel’s proposal, including Sen. Mike Cunningham, R-Rogersville. He cites a nursing home in his district on the brink of closure.
“Possibly within three to four weeks, there’s going to be 100 and some people who will have to relocate. There’s no place for them to go in the area and I just think it’s the wrong thing to do,” says Cunningham. “My concern is where else can we go to get money if we can’t do this. This is a population that definitely needs it.”
Committee Chairman Dan Hegeman, R-Cosby, left the line open for later discussion.
Hegeman has requested a monthly tracking for lawmakers to know where the money is coming from and how it is being spent. Haug says the state is working on getting this system in place.
The Senate committee has taken the governor’s position in some cases. In other cases, it’s taken the House Budget Committee’s or has come up with its own changes.
The full Senate plans to take up the package on Wednesday. The plan would then move on to the Missouri House of Representatives.
To see the governor’s full list of recommendations, click here.
Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet
Watch Missouri Senate committee’s work on extra spending request for coronavirus
The Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee is meeting today about a request for additional spending to help the state respond to the coronavirus. House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith says the request has ballooned to a proposed $5.8 billion. Watch the hearing by clicking here.
Missouri prison system reports first COVID-19 related death
St. Joseph city officials in northwest Missouri report the first death in Buchanan County from complications brought on by COVID-19; the former St. Joseph state prisoner transferred to Kansas City. The Missouri Department of Corrections made the announcement.
City officials say the prisoner was transferred to St. Joseph for an unrelated illness that required isolation, which the prison in Cameron could not accommodate. The prisoner was actually diagnosed with COVID-19 when transferred to a Kansas City area hospital March 19th. Though he later tested negative twice for coronavirus, he remained hospitalized for other medical conditions.
Corrections officials say he was the first prisoner diagnosed with the virus. The prisoner had been isolated in a negative airflow chamber at Western Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in St. Joseph since March 4th after being monitored for a suspected respiratory condition. No other prisoner had contact with the inmate. No staff has reported symptoms.
Corrections officials say medical and custody staff followed all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. All rooms and vehicles the offender occupied were immediately sanitized, according to the Department of Corrections. All staff who came into contact with the infected prisoner have been notified.
By Brent Martin of Missourinet affiliate KFEQ in St. Joseph
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Missouri Senate gets back to work today
The Missouri Senate plans to get back to business today. Senators have been on break for more than three weeks, as the number of coronavirus cases started picking up statewide. Senate President Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, says the upper chamber will consider the governor’s request for additional spending, often called a supplemental spending bill.
Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz (R-Sullivan) speaks to Capitol reporters on February 21, 2019 (photo courtesy of Senate Communications)
“We’ve got to find a way – it doesn’t probably get any easier at this point – but ultimately finding a way to get the supplemental passed and find a way to get potentially the budget work done. It’s still in our optimistic view that we’re going to be able to get that accomplished,” he says.”
Schatz says the Senate also plans to consider an annual hospital tax proposal, known as the Federal Reimbursement Allowance.
“It’s obviously critical funding,” he says. “I think it’s a couple hundred million dollars of funding. And so it’s a substantial amount of money that obviously in this environment they’re in – rural hospitals are going to be challenged because elective surgeries, their income stream obviously has been turned off. Like most other businesses as well, they’re facing the same challenges everybody else is in being able to fund and make payroll because their income stream being basically shut down. We’re going to have to make sure that we do the right thing when it comes to finding ways to make sure we don’t put any barriers in place and keeping our rural hospitals open.”
For safety reasons, Schatz says Senators’ offices will be closed to the public, there could be a slower roll call during votes and temperature checks at entrances.
“This is kind of a test run for us to see the process in which you know we put some protocols in place to make sure that we only have essential staff and legislators there in order to try to keep as much of the public. Obviously, there’s going to be access but you know limited access for the public and the press to come in,” says Schatz.
As for the Missouri House, it plans to gavel in Wednesday at 1.
During Monday’s daily press briefing, Gov. Mike Parson signaled plans to call a special session to get a state budget passed for the fiscal year that begins in July. Parson has said that his original budget proposal – about $30.5 billion – will have to be tweaked because of the hit the state is taking from the coronavirus.
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Missouri lawmakers to tackle multi-billion dollar supplemental; senators to be given masks on Tuesday
The Missouri Senate will return to Jefferson City on Tuesday morning to tackle the proposed supplemental budget, which includes billions of dollars to battle the coronavirus outbreak.
Missouri Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia
House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, tells Missourinet that the supplemental has increased to a proposed $5.8 billion.
The Senate will gavel-in Tuesday morning at 11, and the Senate Appropriations Committee will hold a noon hearing. The proceedings will be unprecedented, due to the pandemic.
Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, tells Missourinet that every state senator and their staff will be given a mask on Tuesday. Because of the governor’s statewide stay-at-home order and health concerns, Rowden is urging the general public to stay at home and to view the proceedings on the Missouri Senate website.
“The goal is to protect the public, staff and members of the General Assembly present in the Capitol building,” Rowden says.
Rowden and House Majority Floor Leader Rob Vescovo, R-Arnold, have been working with MU Health Care to ensure the safety of state lawmakers to get back inside the Capitol to vote.
The Capitol has been closed to the public since March 24, to help stop the spread of COVID-19. It closed after longtime State Rep. Joe Runions, D-Grandview, tested positive for COVID-19. Runions has since been released from the hospital.
Governor Mike Parson says the Capitol has been receiving a deep-cleaning everyday, since it’s been closed.
Leader Rowden says anyone visiting the Capitol this week will have their temperature taken, and will be questioned about their health, travel and known COVID-19 exposure. Visitors will only have access to the joint committee hearing room and the Capitol’s fourth floor visitor galleries.
Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, (left) talks to House Majority Floor Leader Rob Vescovo, R-Arnold, in Jefferson City on February 12, 2020 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)
The public will not have access to legislators’ offices or the surrounding hallways, according to Rowden.
Rowden also says the roll call will be much slower this week.
“And people for the most part will probably be in their offices,” Rowden told Missourinet recently. “Their name will be called and we’ll give them plenty of time to come from their office into the chamber, cast their vote and then leave again. I think the House is going to do something fairly similar.”
The 163-member Missouri House is set to convene Wednesday afternoon at 1 at the Capitol.
“I am very skeptical because, at the end of the day, we don’t know who is coming in and out of that building (the Missouri Capitol) with the virus,” State Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, tells the “St. Louis Post-Dispatch”. Hopefully everybody takes this thing serious and covers their mouths and their hands and tries to stay at a distance.”
State health officials say the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Missouri has increased from 2,367 on Sunday to 2,722 on Monday. The state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) also says Missouri now has 39 deaths, compared to Sunday’s number of 34.
The “Stay Home Missouri” order signed by Governor Mike Parson on Friday is now in effect. The order took effect at 12:01 this morning, and says Missourians shall avoid leaving their homes or apartments unless necessary. You can still go to work at certain jobs and can access essential services such as grocery stores, gas stations, the pharmacy and banks.
You also also still go outdoors to exercise, but must practice social distancing.
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Missouri Legislature appears headed toward special session to get state budget passed
Despite coronavirus concerns, Gov. Mike Parson says the Missouri Legislature will finish its state budget work for the next fiscal year – but maybe not the usual way. During today’s Capitol press briefing, Parson signaled calling a special session to wrap up the budget for the fiscal year that begins in July.
Governor Mike Parson speaks at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City on April 4, 2020 (photo courtesy of the governor’s Flicker page)
“We have until June the 30th to get that done – the end of June to get that done. I do believe there will be time in there that we’ll have the opportunity to come back, says Parson. “I think by then hopefully we’re going to be on the downside of this virus. But, the Constitution says we’ve got to do that. So, frankly me and the legislators got to figure out a way to do that. It’s the only we can move forward in the state of Missouri. We don’t have the luxury of printing our own money and we just can’t start over with not abiding by the Constitution. So I really believe by the end of June, we’ll be able at some point to call a special session, bring the legislators back in and to be able to work on the 2021 budget.”
Parson has said that his original budget proposal – about $30.5 billion – will have to be reworked due to the toll the coronavirus is taking on the state.
The Legislature gets back to work this week for something else – to consider a request for additional spending. Most all other legislative business could be up in the air for a while.
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How many Missouri hospital beds, ventilators are available to battle COVID-19?
U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said this week is going to be the “hardest and the saddest” for “most Americans’ lives,” by describing the time as a “Pearl Harbor moment” and a “9/11 moment.” In Missouri, more than 2,300 people have tested positive for COVID-19 and at least 34 people have died.
Of Missouri’s roughly 10,800 hospital beds, about 3,700 – or 35% – are currently available to help fight the coronavirus, according to state information. The data also says some 400 people are in a hospital today battling the respiratory illness and about 1,100 ventilators are on hand.
How many Missouri hospital beds, ventilators are available to battle COVID-19?
During Saturday’s press briefing, Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Director Randall Williams said the state is now publishing daily totals of hospital beds and ventilators available statewide.
“And so that’s incredibly important as we use our testing data and look at our admissions to look at surge capacity, especially in those communities that we have more cases, such as in the St. Louis area, the Springfield area and to that extent in Jackson County,” said Williams.
The information says the Show-Me State has about 150 hospitals.
State and federal officials having been reviewing several sites as possible makeshift hospitals if Missouri runs out of bed space at traditional hospitals. Those include the Kemper Arena and Independence Event Center in Kansas City, Hearnes Center in Columbia, America’s Center in St. Louis, the Show-Me Center in Cape Girardeau, Hammons Student Center and JQH Arena in Springfield and Missouri Southern State University’s Leggett and Platt Athletic Center in Joplin.
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