Missouri Fully Reopened Tuesday

The State of Missouri officially entered Phase 2 of Governor Mike Parson’s “Show Me Strong Recovery” Plan Tuesday, by reopening the entire state.

Phase 2 of the governor’s plan means there is no longer a statewide health order and all statewide restrictions have been lifted.  However, local officials still have the authority to implement further rules, regulations, or orders as they see fit. 

Parson made the decision last week to reopen the state based on successfully building the four essential “Show Me Strong Recovery” pillars.  These pillars included expanding testing capacity and volume in the state; expanding reserves of PPE; monitor and, if necessary, expand hospital and health care system capacity; and improve the ability to predict potential outbreaks using public health data.

In a statement last week, Parson said. “It’s been just over 90 days since our first COVID-19 case in Missouri, and I am proud to say we have overcome all of these challenges and more than met our four pillars to reopen.”

Parson noted that weekly testing in Missouri has increased more than 220 percent from approximately 16,000 test encounters the week of April 20 to over 53,000 encounters the week of May 25.  Over the past two weeks, the state has averaged more than 10,000 tests per weekday.

Parson said, “We must remember that COVID-19 is not gone. It is still extremely important for everyone to continue social distancing. Be proactive. Avoid large, congested crowds, and if you can’t social distance, take extra precautions to protect yourself and those around you.”

The governor also signed an executive order to extend the state of emergency in Missouri through December 30, 2020.