Today’s update discusses:

• data in support of Governor’s recovery plan
• decrease in COVID-19 cases in most areas of state
• increase in cases in St. Louis region

ECONOMY

• Governor Parson released data supporting his plan to reopen the state next week. The plan, called the “Show Me Strong Recovery Plan,” rests on four essential pillars designed to give Missouri a benchmark for moving forward: 

• • expand testing capacity and volume in the state
  • expand reserves of personal protective equipment by opening public and private supply chains
  • continue to monitor and, if necessary, expand hospital and health care system capacity
  • improve ability to predict potential outbreaks using Missouri’s public health data

The press release states that multiple Missouri-specific sources will be used to monitor these pillars and inform its decisions, including the most import information of the number of hospitalized COVID-19 cases and potential cases under investigation. Currently, the overall trends of the data collected shows that Missouri’s healthcare system is managing the outbreak, and the state is on track for opening on Monday.

HEALTH

• The number of patients in hospitals for COVID-19 in Missouri has dropped in every part of the state except the St. Louis region. Unfortunately, St. Louis has experienced an increase in confirmed cases since April 7, leading Governor Parson to explain that it is crucial for the state to “evaluate numbers locally and regionally, not just on a statewide scale.” In response, the chief of the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force, Dr. Alex Garza, stated that maintaining the local stay-at-home order is the right thing to do for now.