DHSS Director Dr. Randall Williams Archives

Have more coronavirus cases popped up from Lake of the Ozarks holiday partying?

June 3, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Missouri Department of Health and Senior Service Director Randall Williams says he’s not aware of any additional coronavirus cases stemming from Memorial Day weekend partying at the Lake of the Ozarks. So far, only one person from mid-Missouri’s Boone County is known to have tested positive after being there.

Have more coronavirus cases popped up from Lake of the Ozarks holiday partying?

“Camden County, which was the number one county, has not seen any more positives,” says Williams. “And that’s now been a good while ago – ten days, eleven days.”

The popular summer destination draws partiers from all over the state and region. After local and national media plastered video and pictures of crowded pool parties at the Lake of the Ozarks from that weekend, leaders spoke out.

Dr. Williams said when young and healthy individuals who get the virus without showing symptoms transmit it to a more vulnerable person, that’s when tragic events could happen. St. Louis County officials issued a travel advisory urging residents who were there and ignored guidelines to self-quarantine for 14 days or until testing negative for the virus.

Since March, nearly 14,000 people have tested positive in Missouri for the coronavirus. At least 786 patients have died from the disease. The state has tested more than 211,000 people.

Parson extends Missouri reopening order through June 15

May 28, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Gov. Mike Parson has extended his phase one reopening order through June 15. The restrictions mean nursing homes will remain closed to visitors. Retail will continue to have occupancy limits and bars and restaurants must continue to put tables six feet apart.

Gov. Mike Parson (Photo courtesy of governor’s Flickr page)

“We are extending phase one not because Missouri has taken a step back, but because we want to make sure we are fully prepared for phase two,” says Parson. “As long as social distancing and other necessary health and safety measures are implemented, businesses can still be open. Events such as graduations, weddings, county fairs, summer schools and camps can still take place. There are currently no limitations on social gatherings as long as precautions are taken and six feet of distance can be maintained.”

Parson says local leaders will still have the authority to issue further rules, regulations, or ordinances, as long as they are not inconsistent with the statewide order.

“Some communities across this state are further along than others when it comes to reopening and economic recovery,” he says. “Extending the order will give these communities more time to prepare and align with us at the state level as we continue working towards phase 2.

During today’s press briefing, Parson says crowded pool parties last weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks did not weigh in to his decision to extend the order.

CVS Health today announced it will open 22 new COVID-19 testing sites at select CVS Pharmacy drive-thru locations across Missouri as part of its nationwide COVID-19 response. Self-swab tests will be available to individuals meeting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria as well as state and age guidelines.

Patients are to remain in their vehicles and be directed to the pharmacy drive-thru window. At the window, they will be given a test kit and instructions. A CVS Pharmacy team member will observe the self-swab process to ensure it is done properly. Tests will then be sent to an independent, third-party lab for processing, and the results will be available in about three days.

Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Director Randall Williams says today the sites are primarily in the Kansas City, St. Louis, and Springfield regions.

Missouri to ramp up COVID-19 testing next week but who’s paying for it?

May 21, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

State officials hope to complete about 7,500 coronavirus tests daily starting next week. During today’s briefing, Gov. Mike Parson says the plan will focus on three main testing strategies – box-in outbreaks, sentinel testing, and community sampling.

“This will allow us to keep the virus contained by identifying and isolating additional positive cases as quickly as possible,” says Parson. “Once our testing numbers are up, we will be able to re-evaluate and determine what is needed moving forward. The more testing we do, the more knowledge we have on what the situation in Missouri actually looks like and the better equipped we are to move forward.”

Gov. Mike Parson

The box-in approach will target long-term care sites, including nursing homes and assisted living centers for senior citizens, by testing staff and residents facility-wide. The goal with this strategy is to identify and isolate additional positive cases as quickly as possible. By “boxing-in” outbreaks in these places, this strategy aims to keep the virus contained and prevent further spreading.

Parson says 163 Missouri long-term care centers have had at least one COVID-19 case.

Sentinel testing is planned for next week at state-operated veterans nursing homes, prisons, and mental health centers in 28 counties over a ten-day period. Performing the periodic testing helps to identify and isolate not only symptomatic individuals but also asymptomatic individuals to keep them from unknowingly spreading the virus within the facility.

Community test sampling is also planned next week in six counties over ten days, including in Boone, Cape Girardeau, Greene, Jackson, Jefferson, and St. Charles. State Health and Senior Services Director Randall Williams says election for community sampling is based on locations with the ability to draw participants from a broader region as well as locations that have expressed a need for additional testing resources. It is not based on the number of COVID-19 cases in these counties.

Community sampling is intended to give the state a better sense of COVID-19 prevalence in a given area to help guide its response and ease uncertainty. Parson says if prevalence is low, this will help reassure citizens that it is safe to begin re-engaging in the community and returning to somewhat normal operations. If prevalence is higher, Parson says steps will be taken to keep the virus from spreading further in the community but did not elaborate on what this would look like.

How’s the testing being paid for?

“All the testing is pretty well right now going to be paid out of the CARES Act for COVID-19,” says Parson. “There’s a lot of money on the local levels for testing – that’s what we’re really emphasizing that money they’re sending out. So the local levels are going to be responsible too. The state is not going to come in and do their testing for them for free. If they have the funds and the resources to do it, whether it be the counties or the health departments, they’re going to have to help with that. Number two, when we go looking kind of in the private sector when we’re going around there, if the companies have the ability to pay for it through the insurance companies, they’re going to have to pay for that also.”

Due to a glitch, Kansas City has been left empty-handed when it comes to federal coronavirus funding and its corresponding counties don’t seem to want to play ball and share the aid Washington sent to them. Parson says he’s willing to help with testing in Kansas City, but he doesn’t want to open up a can of worms.

“We’re not going to get in the middle of turf battles up there. I mean that’s an issue up there between the counties and the city and that region,” says Parson. “So I’m not sure if that’s my place to fight that battle. We’re here in a support role to help them. I don’t think the state is here to take over the local levels and tell them what to do and what not to do.”

On Thursday, an informal group appointed by the governor to advise him how to spend CARES Act funding coming into the state held a public meeting. State Representative David Wood, R-Versailles, takes issue with local health departments footing the bill for testing services through local CARES ACT funding.

“Basically, you have no plans of sending money down, even though they are doing your work and they are funded through you, you’re having them compete for the dollars that are sent to the county,” asks Wood. “I’ve made that point in budget committee numbers of times that if Health and Senior Services is receiving additional funds from COVID money, whatever pot it’s coming from and they are not passing on to the people doing the work, that to me is … (mumbled expletive).”

State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick says Missouri has about $1.5 billion in federal funding to work with after buying personal protective equipment for state health and frontline workers.

Gov. Parson COVID-19 briefing May 11, 2020 : “Good to be around everyday people”

May 11, 2020 By Ashley Byrd

Cases in Missouri: 9,918

Total Deaths: 488

View full Missouri COVID-19 interactive map for today.

In Monday’s briefing, Gov. Parson says it was good to go home over the weekend and go out to eat at a restaurant and talk to the staff. He spoke of the “unintended consequences” of COVID-19, including domestic violence cases and people putting off their normal health care needs.

Missouri DHSS Director Randall Williams announces the state is getting about 600 rounds of Remdesivir to help treat patients with severe COVID-19 complications in order to reduce their chances of dying.

WATCH full briefing:

UPDATE: 359 workers at Triumph Foods in northwest Missouri have tested positive for COVID-19

May 2, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

(Reporter Brent Martin at Missourinet St. Joseph affiliate KFEQ contributed to this story)

State health officials have announced that 359 employees and contract workers at a massive pork processing plant in northwest Missouri’s St. Joseph have now tested positive for the coronavirus.

The state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) announced the latest statistics on Saturday, adding that results from the comprehensive testing continue to arrive on a rolling basis. Additional updates are expected this weekend.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) logo (image courtesy of DHSS)

A spokeswoman for DHSS, Lisa Cox, tells Missourinet the vast majority of the Triumph Foods employees were asymptomatic.

Governor Mike Parson appeared Friday on Missourinet St. Joseph affiliate KFEQ Radio (AM 680), telling “Hotline” host Barry Birr that Triumph Foods became a test of sorts for Missouri’s new strategy of rapidly deploying COVID-19 test kits to a potential hot spot, in an effort to prevent a massive outbreak.

“And that’s the first big major test that we’ve done,” the governor tells KFEQ. “Most of the people that have tested positive are asymptomatic. So, the good news to that is we know who they are, they’re not sick, so we can take action with that.”

State officials sent test kits to St. Joseph and contracted with Northwest Health Services to test all 2,800 Triumph employees, whether they displayed symptoms or not.

The Triumph Foods plant in St. Joseph processes one-and-a-half billion pounds of pork annually. The governor says it’s a key part of the national food chain.

DHSS Director Dr. Randall Williams does not support shutting the plant down. He told Capitol reporters in Jefferson City on Thursday that the department is doing what they do in public health, including epidemiology contact tracing, isolating and quarantining.

The DHSS has partnered with St. Joseph health officials, Northwest Health Services and Mosaic Life Care to offer coronavirus testing to all employees and contract staff at Triumph.

Any employees who are still wanting to be tested can do so next week through Northwest Health Services’ mobile testing site.

Pneumonia and flu have now killed more than 1,500 this season in Missouri; DHSS battling multiple health threats

April 30, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri health officials have been diverting more resources to COVID-19 testing across the state.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) logo (image courtesy of DHSS)

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services’ (DHSS) latest report highlights the health battle the department is facing on multiple fronts, from the deadly coronavirus pandemic to both flu and pneumonia.

DHSS confirms to Missourinet that the Missouri State Public Health Lab has temporarily suspended routine flu testing, to divert resources to COVID-19 testing.

This has been a deadly flu season in Missouri, and there have now been 112,965 lab-positive influenza cases in the state this season.

There have been 78 flu-associated deaths in Missouri, so far this season. DHSS says there have been 1,541 pneumonia and flu deaths in Missouri together this season, with pneumonia being the largest killer, by far.

Missouri has seen 13 flu outbreaks, since last fall.

The department’s importance has been highlighted daily at Governor Mike Parson’s media briefings on COVID-19, where DHSS Director Dr. Randall Williams frequently joins the governor.

DHSS says there are now 7,562 confirmed coronavirus cases in Missouri, along with 329 deaths.

Governor Parson says that as Missouri prepares to reopen on Monday, expanding COVID-19 testing capacity is one of the four essential pillars of the state’s “Show Me Strong Recovery”

The governor has also called for expanding the reserves of personal protective equipment (PPE) by opening public and private supply chains.

Governor Parson says between the state health lab and at least 15 private labs and participating health care institutions, about 50,000 tests could be performed each week.

Gov. Parson’s COVID-19 briefing Thursday, April 30 (VIDEO)

April 30, 2020 By Ashley Byrd

Cases in Missouri: 7,562
Total Deaths: 329
Patients tested in Missouri (by all labs): approximately 82,152

Today’s briefing centered on housing assistance and resources for Missourians amid the COVID-19 crisis. Under the CARES Act, Missouri will receive funding for additional resources to help meet emerging needs, including the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program and the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) program. State Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven, State Commissioner of Higher Education Zora Mulligan and State Director of the Department of Commerce and Insurance Chlora Lindley-Myers gave updates. Director of DHSS, Dr. Randall Williams gave the most recent COVID-19 testing results for the Triumph Foods pork packing plant in St. Joseph.

(VIDEO) Highlights from today’s coronavirus briefing in Missouri

April 22, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Gov. Mike Parson says almost every Missouri business will be able to reopen their doors May 4. During a virtual coronavirus briefing today, the governor says he’s developing policies and guidelines for communities to follow.

Gov. Parson (Photo courtesy of the governor’s Flickr page)

“Social distancing is going to be important,” says Parson. “That’s going to be a key role to how we move forward and I think it’s sort of important that we maintain that social distancing for some time. There will be guidelines we will give to cities, the counties across the state for state policy and it will be where people can get out again.”

St. Louis City, St. Louis County have indefinitely extended their stay-at-home orders. Kansas City’s runs until May 15.

Missouri reports today at least 208 coronavirus related deaths and more than 6,100 people have tested positive for the disease. More than half of the cases are from St. Louis City and St. Louis County.

Beginning next week, the state will use a machine to decontaminate up to 80,000 N95 masks per day. Parson says the device will help with the state’s mask shortage and prevent the spread the coronavirus.

“Hospitals, healthcare providers and first responders will have the opportunity to utilize the Battelle Critical Care Decontamination System to safely decontaminate N95 masks,” says Parson.

Missouri MO Health Net Director Todd Richardson (Photo courtesy of the governor’s Flickr page)

Missouri Medicaid Director Todd Richardson says a federal grant paid for the entire cost of the cleaning system. The state is expected to have the device for at least the next six months.

“This system uses hydrogen peroxide vapor to sanitize N95 masks up to 20 times per mask,” says Richardson. “The Battelle Decontamination System will bolster our supply of necessary PPE.”

There will be up to 13 drop-off and pick-up sites statewide for health care providers and first responders to drop off their N95 masks. Each organization will be responsible for correctly and safely packaging their contaminated masks and labeling them according to the directions provided by Battelle. The masks are then returned to the original drop-off/pick-up site approximately 72 hours following drop-off.

Any health care or first responder organization interested in using the Battelle CCDS to decontaminate N95 masks should enroll at www.battelle.org/N95.

Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Director Dr. Randall Williams (Photo courtesy of governor’s Flickr page)

Missouri is moving to a new phase that will boost coronavirus testing in congregated places with an outbreak, such as assisted living centers and nursing homes. State Department of Health and Senior Services Director Randall Williams says the focus needs to be on these places due to the number of deaths occurring from within.

“And so if you’re going to do that, you start moving into what we call comprehensive testing – very similar to what we did this weekend in which you go in and you test a lot of people and you test them quick,” says Williams.

A Festus nursing home near St. Louis has had at least 64 cases and several other nursing homes and assisted living centers have reported coronavirus cases.

Meanwhile, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, says he would rather let states struggling from the coronavirus declare bankruptcy instead of increasing federal aid that would require further deficit spending. Parson says he does not think states should be able to file for bankruptcy.

“I think the states should be responsible for how you spend your money and because you did a poor job of managing it, whatever those states may be, I don’t think the federal government should come and bail you out,” says Parson.

Current law does not allows states to declare bankruptcy.

Today’s briefing:

How many Missouri hospital beds, ventilators are available to battle COVID-19?

April 6, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

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.

Latest COVID-19 count in Missouri: at least 10 dead, 670 people test positive

March 27, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) Director Dr. Randall Williams prepares to testify before a joint legislative committee in Jefferson City on March 10, 2020 (Brian Hauswirth photo)

A resident of a Springfield assisted living center in southwest Missouri is the state’s 10th coronavirus related casualty. The woman in her 90s is the fourth person to die at the facility from the respiratory virus.

Missouri has at least 670 people who have tested positive for the respiratory disease. According to Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Director Randall Williams, some 7,000 people have been tested in the state for the virus.

“As we see that positivity rate increasing nationally, we’re also seeing that we’ve been quoting 6% to 8%. It’s looking more like 10% now,” says Williams during a Capitol press conference Friday. “Half of the cases in Missouri have been in two areas – St. Louis City and St. Louis County. So we think that following the trend that you’re seeing nationally, you’re seeing more cases in urban areas. Unlike in northern Italy, where it started out in rural areas and went to cities, what you’re seeing around the United States is more urban clusters.”

St Louis County has at least 247 cases and St. Louis City has 72.

State data shows the age range with the most positive cases is 50-54 years old. They have 77 cases. The next age group is 20-24 year olds with 70 cases.