Cape Girardeau County officials discuss COVID-19 preparations

Cape Girardeau County government officials are working with health authorities, emergency management staff and municipal leaders to make contingency plans for coping with the COVID-19 pandemic, should they be needed.

“We’re currently coordinating with other stakeholders around the county, including government and folks in the health field,” Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy said Monday, following a brief commission meeting dominated by a coronavirus discussion. “In this case, an ounce of prevention is definitely worth 20 pounds of cure.”

Meetings began earlier this month and are continuing this week to discuss various scenarios ranging from public coronavirus screenings to the possible need for quarantine of anyone who may test positive for the virus in the weeks ahead.

“We’re having discussions and asking, ‘What does this plan look like if we have to implement it? What does Plan B look like? What does a drive-through screening look like? What does a quarantine look like?’ You have to look at all those plans and all the possible courses of action and then say, ‘OK, what do we need to do to be prepared?’” Tracy said.

With regard to countywide screenings for coronavirus, Second District Commissioner Charlie Herbst said he doesn’t anticipate that will be needed in the immediate future.

“It’s not necessary at this time,” he said.

In addition to discussing various scenarios, government and health officials are also establishing a format for providing a reliable source of local information about the virus.

“With all the stakeholders — the university, hospitals, local governments, the county government — you don’t want five different sets of messages coming out,” the commissioner said. “We want everybody to be on the same page and rowing in the same direction.”

It is likely, he said, a webpage will be set up either through the county or the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center with the latest COVID-19 information.

“We want to keep people calm and we want them to know we’re working on this and we’re formulating plans and will communicate them so people will know what to do,” he said. “We’ll be keeping people informed as best we can and if they have questions, we’ll want them to know where they can go for answers.”

One person with questions Monday was Cape Girardeau County Clerk Kara Clark Summers. Summers told the commissioners she and other county clerks throughout the state have participated in several conference calls in recent days with the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office to discuss the possibility of postponing elections scheduled for April 7 if coronavirus becomes a significant factor.

“We want to determine the best course of action while keeping our voters safe and our election judges safe and still conduct an election,” she said. “Right now, our plan is to move forward.”

Do you crave business news? Check out B Magazine, and the B Magazine email newsletter. Check it out at www.semissourian.com/newsletters to find out more.