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St. Louis City, County Issue 'Stay-At-Home' Mandate; State Orders 'Social Distancing'

St. Louis County Executive Sam Page and St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson
File photos I Carolina Hidalgo and Jason Rosenbaum I St. Louis Public Radio
St. Louis County Executive Sam Page and St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson

Updated 5:15 p.m. March 21 with comments from Missouri Gov. Mike Parson

St. Louis and St. Louis County residents will be under mandatory stay-at-home restrictions beginning Monday. 

Meanwhile, Gov. Mike Parson said the state would take a different approach, announcing new social distancing measures to limit interactions in Missouri. 

St. Louis County Executive Sam Page and Mayor Lyda Krewson announced the stay-at-home order on Saturday. The new restrictions, which require people to remain in their homes whenever possible, are part of an ongoing effort to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. The order will remain in effect for 30 days.

“It was an extremely difficult decision that we did not take lightly,” Krewson said during a Saturday press conference, calling the order an “unprecedented response.”

Krewson said there is evidence the novel coronavirus is now spreading from person to person within the St. Louis region and warned the outbreak would only worsen without serious action.

The county's stay-at-home order will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Monday, while the city's will begin at 6 p.m.

But we have evidence of community spread of #COVID19 — and we need to take action to limit social mixing & safeguard our healthcare systems.— Mayor Lyda Krewson (@LydaKrewson) March 21, 2020

There are a number of exceptions to the stay-at-home order, city and county officials said. Residents of both jurisdictions will still be allowed to go to the grocery store, pharmacy, doctor’s office, hospital, laundromat, bank, gas station and public parks — as well as pick up carryout food from restaurants. 

“Our goal here is to keep the economy running as much as we can and not to further impact the hardworking people of our city,” Krewson said.

Violating the stay-at-home order is a misdemeanor, Krewson said, though the new restrictions are not intended to be "punitive."

Read: St. Louis city stay-at-home order

Essential workers will be exempted from the order, Page said at his own Saturday press conference, including health care workers, first responders, infrastructure and "any business that would support those activities." 

Also exempted from the order are essential businesses and institutions, including health care facilities, grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants and bars providing takeout or delivery, gas stations, car repair businesses, banks, hardware stores, post offices and shipping services, laundromats, child care facilities, construction companies, hotels, journalism outlets and all levels of government. 

Non-essential businesses are closed. Examples include salons, tattoo parlors, movie theaters, bowling alleys, amusement parks, museums, concert venues, and similar places.

Refer to the DPH order for more specifics. #STLCovid19StayAtHome— County Executive Sam Page (@DrSamPage) March 21, 2020

The stay-at-home order, Page said, was the result of weeks of collaboration between St. Louis city government and St. Louis County, as well as St. Charles, Jefferson and Franklin counties.

“The coronavirus does not respect city boundaries or county boundaries or any of our regional jurisdictions,” Page said, explaining the need for cooperation.

Although the order is currently limited to St. Louis city and county, Page said that he would expect an announcement on “further restrictions” in surrounding jurisdictions in the coming days. 

Read: St. Louis County stay-at-home order

In a statement, however, St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann responded that St. Charles County would not be following suit.

“I do not believe we are in a situation where government should be deciding which businesses must close and which may stay open,” Ehlmann said. “We will continue to educate our residents that they should stay home except to go to work and procure the services they feel are essential. If businesses and residents work together to do what is right at this critical time, we will be doing everything we need to do right now to slow the spread of this disease.”

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced a statewide order Saturday that prohibits social gatherings of more than 10 people in a single place. The order also forbids people from eating at dine-in restaurants, although drive-in, pickup and delivery are still allowed. Visits to nursing and retirement homes will be prohibited unless to provide critical assistance.

“The more that people reduce their public contact, the sooner COVID-19 will be contained, and the sooner this order will expire,” Parson said during a Saturday press conference.

Grocery stores, gas stations, parks and banks will remain open while schools will remain closed. The order will take effect Monday and will remain until April 6 unless extended.

Parson didn’t rule out implementing further measures.

“Right now, I think that this is the important order of the day,” he said. “If for some reason this doesn’t work, then we take another action at some point.”Loading...

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Follow Shahla on Twitter: @shahlafarzan

Follow Chad on Twitter: @iamcdavis

Send questions and comments about this story to feedback@stlpublicradio.org

Correction: The county stay-at-home order begins at 12:01 am Monday and the city's begins at 6 p.m. Monday. A previous version of this story listed the wrong time for the county. 

Copyright 2020 St. Louis Public Radio

Shahla Farzan
Shahla Farzan is a reporter at St. Louis Public Radio. She comes most recently from KBBI Public Radio in Homer, Alaska, where she covered issues ranging from permafrost thaw to disputes over prayer in public meetings. A science nerd to the core, Shahla spent six years studying native bees, eventually earning her PhD in ecology from the University of California-Davis. She has also worked as an intern at Capital Public Radio in Sacramento and a podcaster for BirdNote. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, combing flea markets for tchotchkes, and curling up with a good book.
Chad Davis is a 2016 graduate of Truman State University where he studied Public Communication and English. At Truman State, Chad served as the executive producer of the on-campus news station, TMN Television. In 2017, Chad joined the St. Louis Public Radio team as the fourth Race and Culture Diversity Fellow. Chad is a native of St. Louis and is a huge hip- hop, r&b, and pop music fan. He also enjoys graphic design, pop culture, film, and comedy.