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St. Joseph leaders say spike in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations prompted mask order

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The northwest Missouri city of St. Joseph has issued an emergency order requiring individuals to wear masks or face coverings at all indoor public places. The order began today and will be in place for 30 days.

St. Joseph leaders say spike in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations prompted mask order

St. Joseph Mayor Bill McMurray says the number of COVID-19 patients at Mosaic Life Care is what prompted the expansion of the mask order.

“They’ve gone from like 16 up to 36 and that’s a huge spike, so we have to tamp those numbers back down and this is just a risk management method to do that,” McMurray says. “We’ve built in some exceptions, but we really need people to take this seriously. This virus has had a huge spike here in our community and we have to fight back, we cannot just go on with business as usual, at least for the next 30 days, and hopefully by doing that, we’ll get these numbers back down.”

Health Director Debra Bradley says they are very concerned at the St. Joseph Health Department about the spike in COVID-19 cases and individuals in the hospital.

“We want to do what we can to protect our community as a whole so that’s why we’re supporting this mask mandate, we’ve been asking for it for a while anyway, hopefully this will help turn the corner on the numbers while also keeping our businesses open,” Bradley says. “They’re not the most comfortable thing to wear, but we’re in this together, we’re here to help each other out.”

The mask mandate put in place July 13 in St. Joseph required individuals to wear a mask in retail stores of 10,000 square feet or more. The new emergency declaration requires masks be worn in all indoor public places if a six-foot distance cannot be maintained. Exceptions include children under the age of five, those with certain medical conditions or while eating food at a restaurant or bar.

Deputy Mayor Kent O’Dell says, in recent meetings, he was on the side of not issuing a more expanded measure.

“We’ve tried holding back the city mandates for five, six weeks now and I’ve been a big part of that, but the numbers have gotten out of hand so therefore, the time has come,” O’Dell says. “It’s unfortunate, but it’s time for everybody to show a little compassion, a little consideration for others for a small period.”

During a press conference Tuesday at City Hall, O’Dell said he wanted to apologize to healthcare professionals.

“I never thought that this would happen or it would explode like the way it has,” O’Dell says. “I was planning on acting before these kind of (COVID-19) numbers hit. It’s unfortunate now that nurses and doctors are being hit, overwhelmed with these numbers now. Normal hospital operations and now 36 COVID patients on top of everything else so I want to apologize to those guys for what’s happening.”

Mosaic Life Care in St. Joseph has 48 rooms on the 4th floor and 48 rooms on the 5th floor that are negative pressure rooms available for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, if needed.

By Sarah Thomack of Missourinet affiliate KFEQ in St. Joseph

Sen. Blunt is optimistic a compromise can be reached this week on stimulus package

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The Senate is scheduled to leave Washington, D.C. after Friday for its annual August recess.

-BRENT MARTIN, KFEQ

United States Senator Roy Blunt is optimistic a compromise can be reached this week on another economic stimulus package in the battle against COVID-19 and its impact on the economy.

Blunt, a Republican involved in the negotiations, insists Senate Republicans and House Democrats are not that far off, even if the Senate approved a $1 trillion package to counter the House $3 trillion measure.

“We’re never going to outspend Democrats in the House,” Blunt told reporters during a weekend stop in St. Joseph. “They put $7 ½ billion for child care subsidies, I put $15 (billion), they say, maybe we need $40 (billion). Now, this is the number they thought should be $7 ½ billion 90 days ago. So, part of this is just politics. It’s election-year politics. We’re 90 days from a presidential election.”

After a visit to Mosaic Life Care, a medical center in St. Joseph, Blunt told reporters there are three sticking points: how much federal unemployment assistance should be allocated, whether state and local governments should be provided assistance, and whether COVID-19 liability protection should be extended for businesses and groups.

An additional $600 weekly federal payment to unemployed workers ended at the end of July. House Democrats included nearly $1 billion of aid to state and local governments; the Senate did not. Senate Republicans included liability protections to businesses and groups which reopened during this coronavirus pandemic; the House did not.

Both and Senate and House include another round of $1,200 stimulus checks.

Some deadline pressure is growing for negotiators. The Senate is scheduled to leave Washington, D.C. after Friday for its annual August
recess.  Blunt doesn’t see that as a problem though, saying negotiations over such proposals normally come together in a 72-hour period.

“You just need to decide when that 72 hours is, so you can do whatever’s necessary to finally bring these bills together,” Blunt said. “They’re different
in money, but they’re not different in much else.”

Blunt said many of his fellow Senate Republicans question the need for the bill and he says if one is to pass, it will need bipartisan support.

“So, this will be done by some number of Republicans and enough Democrats to get to 60 in the Senate,” according to Blunt.

Though Senate Republicans backed the last $1trillion-plus package, Blunt expects some to vote against this latest round of
relief.

“Well, I think Senate Republicans are probably reverting back to a normal pattern where some of my Republican colleagues never vote for
anything that spends money,” Blunt said, “That’s actually a workable strategy as long as somebody else will vote for what spends money.”

Missouri meat-packing plant confirms 16 COVID-19 cases; mass testing of employees

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Triumph Foods confirms 16 employees at its pork processing plant in northwest Missouri’s St. Joseph have tested positive for COVID-19. Workers who tested positive are in self-quarantine, according to Triumph.

Photo courtesy of KFEQ in St. Joseph

The company also confirms the state of Missouri has provided 2,800 tests for employees at the St. Joseph plant to be tested for the coronavirus. Triumph says those tests will be in addition to the tests already conducted by Mosaic Life Care in conjunction with the Buchanan County and St. Joseph Health Departments.

In a news release, Triumph says the additional tests will be administered onsite by Northwest Health Services “in a coordinated, phased approach over multiple days.” Triumph says it is working with the State of Missouri to finalize both the testing plan and the timing of the tests.

The news release was the first communication with the news media since Triumph disclosed Monday that it had two workers test positive for the coronavirus.

Triumph adds it has implemented the latest measures recommended by state and federal health authorities. The company says it has enhanced cleaning and sanitizing at the plant since the coronavirus outbreak. Workers wear face covers. Plexiglass dividers have been installed to create social distancing during breaks.

Triumph employs more than 2,800 workers in St. Joseph, processing more than 1.5 billion pounds of pork annually.

By Brent Martin of Missourinet affiliate KFEQ in St. Joseph

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Missouri meat-packing plant employees to be tested for COVID-19

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Photo courtesy of KFEQ in St. Joseph

All employees at Triumph Foods in northwest Missouri’s St. Joseph will be tested for the coronavirus after several workers at the meat packing plant tested positive for COVID-19. The city of St. Joseph reports multiple positive cases of COVID-19 at Triumph, though the city does not state how many employees tested positive in the past 48 hours. An internal memo sent to employees Wednesday disclosed the plant recorded nine total cases.

The city says Northwest Health Services plans to conduct tests as early as this afternoon, depending on when test kits arrive. Northwest expected to receive results within 48 hours.

Mosaic Life Care will test approximately 125 Triumph employees Friday. It expects results within 24 hours.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reports it has sent approximately 2,800 tests to St. Joseph which will be processed at the Missouri State Public Health Laboratory and a commercial laboratory.

By Brent Martin of Missourinet affiliate of KFEQ in St. Joseph

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Missouri health care system to begin screening for coronavirus

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Mosaic Life Care in northwest Missouri’s St. Joseph will begin screening for the coronavirus, which has caused more than 100 deaths in China.

Missouri health care system to begin screening for coronavirus

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have confirmed five cases in the United States and is keeping track of 110 potential cases, all from people who recently visited Wuhan, China. One patient is under investigation in Missouri after testing negative for the disease with flu-like symptoms.

Director of Infectious Diseases at Mosaic Life Care in St. Joseph, Dr. Scott Folk, says the virus has the attention of the medical community.

“The uncertainty, right now, with the Wuhan coronavirus, is how well the virus will adapt to human-to-human transmission,” Folk tells reporters during a news conference at Mosaic. “We know it can occur, but we don’t know well and how long that’s going to happen. And that’s why everyone is on edge right now.”

The virus has spread quickly since first reported in Wuhan last month. The number of confirmed cases jumped to 5,974 Wednesday, surpassing the 5,327 in mainland China during the SARS outbreak of 2002 and 2003.

Wuhan is a city of 11 million in east-central China.

Folk says much is unknown about the virus, including whether patients are contagious during the incubation period.

“Their risk of acquiring this infection is going to be based on exposure, that’s the bottom line,” Folk says. “So, exposure determines risk. If someone has been to Wuhan in the last two weeks, then yes, they are at risk. It doesn’t mean they necessarily have the infection, but they are at risk for sure.”

Folk says Mosaic will begin asking those admitted to the hospital whether they have traveled to Wuhan, China in the last two weeks. If no, Mosaic will ask if the patient has been in contact with someone who has been to Wuhan in the last 14 days.

Folk says it is the unknown about the coronavirus, which concerns the medical community.

“And that’s why people are on edge and there’s a lot of uncertainty about this,” according to Folk. “That’s why the markets are being rattled right now, because there’s still a lot of uncertainty about this. There’s a lot of certainty, on the other hand, about the flu, but there’s a lot of uncertainty about this. That’s why everyone’s still pretty nervous.”

Folk says he is waiting on information from the Centers for Disease Control before deciding how best to fight the coronavirus.

By Brent Martin of Missourinet affiliate KFEQ in St. Joseph