Page announces 7 new guidelines to fight COVID-19’s spread in St. Louis County | News Headlines
ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) — St. Louis County Executive Sam Page announced seven new restrictions and guidelines on Monday in the ongoing fight to stop the spread of COVID-19 in the county.
In part, Page said all businesses would be limited in capacity to 25 percent, down from the 50 percent it is capped at now. In addition, bars will close at 10:00 p.m.
The seven guidelines announced were:
- Gatherings are limited to no more than 50 people in St. Louis County.
- Rolling back occupancy to 25 percent for all businesses, the level it was in June
- All bars will close at 10:00 p.m. each night
- Business that do not comply with County rules will be closed
- All people waiting for COVID-19 test results will quarantine until results are known
- Test results from all providers like Urgent Care center will be rapidly sent to St. Louis County Health Department
- Teachers will receive safe place to quarantine if they are exposed
The updated restrictions and guidelines will go into place on Friday and will hopefully last for only four weeks.
Page said the new restrictions were put in place in hopes of having normalcy return for the beginning of the school year. Heavily restrictions now, he said, will make schools a safer place this fall.
This story will be updated as specifications are made available through Page’s office.
The announcement comes after the county saw a 318% increase of reported new cases compared to a month ago. St. Louis County reported 523 cases on Sunday, the highest single-day increase of cases since the beginning of the outbreak. The county broke its record four times this past week, adding a cumulative total of 2,220 cases from July 20 to July 26. This total is an increase of 87.97% from the week before when the county added 1,181 cases.
The county’s total cases reached 11,210 on Sunday. Cases reported in July account for 41.28% of the county’s total cases with 4,628 so far. The county added 1,601 cases in all of June.
“Working closely with public health experts including the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force and other regional leaders, we are concerned about the recent increase in COVID-19 cases across the region,” Page said in a press release Sunday. “New restrictions must be put in place to slow the community spread of this virus.”
COVID-19 diagnoses increased by 102% between July 2 and July 15, when the county reported a total of 1,684 cases, according to an analysis report released by the county’s health department. More cases were reported since then and as of Sunday, the county’s 14-day increase of cases reached 134.22%.
The St. Louis County Department of Public Health has tested an average of 2,543 people per day as of July 15, with a positivity rate of 7.5%. Missouri’s total cases reached 42,736 on Sunday and St. Louis County accounts for 26.23% of total cases and 52.31% of total deaths. More than 1,200 Missourians have died in the state so far.
A total of 632 St. Louis County residents died from complications caused by the virus as of Sunday, 64 of them died in July compared to 128 in June.
While reported deaths have decreased, the average new hospitalizations for COVID-19 increased by 73% at St. Louis metro area hospitals between July 2 and July 15. Doctors with the St. Louis Metropolitan Task Force say 70.6% of inpatient beds are filled.
“I wish I had better news to deliver today but we’re continuing to see some concerning increases in the number of people not only diagnosed with COVID-19, but sick enough to be admitted to our hospitals,” Dr. Alex Garza with the task force said in his briefing Friday.
The White House recently included St. Louis on its list of coronavirus hot spots and Garza said that illustrates the need for public vigilance
