County, city, health care officials detail COVID-19 responses

Wash your hands, stay home as much as you can, maintain “social distance” from other people and don’t show up for a COVID-19 test unless you’ve been referred by a physician or other health care provider.

Those were among the key messages delivered Monday by the mayors of Cape Girardeau and Jackson, Cape Girardeau County officials and the heads of Saint Francis Healthcare System and SoutheastHEALTH at a coronavirus preparation news conference.

In keeping with the recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), no more than 10 people were allowed in the County Commission’s meeting room where the briefing took place, including the speakers who participated in two groups of five.

“I want to echo what the CDC says about practicing personal hygiene, washing your hands, coughing into your elbow, sanitizing surfaces, practicing social distancing and limiting groups to 10,” Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy said as he opened the briefing.

“Understand, at this time, there are more questions than answers,” he said, “and being told to ‘wait and see’ creates anxiety and fear.”

Tracy encouraged people to visit a pair of new websites — www.KeepCapeStrong.com or www.capecountystrong.com — for the latest news about COVID-19 and details about local coronavirus testing.

Testing services and hospital preparations

The presidents of Saint Francis Medical Center and Southeast Hospital said the hospitals have taken steps to conserve supplies of masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment (PPE) in preparation for the spread of COVID-19 in this region.

“Both hospitals, as of today, are no longer performing elective surgeries,” Southeast president and CEO Ken Bateman said at the briefing. By doing do, he said the hospitals will be able to “preserve our personal protective equipment as well as blood supply.” The American Red Cross, he noted, has canceled several blood drives due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“I can tell you that as of today, I would say we’re in good shape,” Bateman said in reference to Southeast’s overall PPE supply. “As of now, I would say we’re OK.”

“I would agree with Ken,” said Saint Francis president and CEO Maryann Reese. Both hospitals, she said, will benefit from “homemade” masks that are being fabricated by community volunteers.

“There are patterns (on the internet) for masks. If you have a sewing machine and you can make masks, please do that for us. We really need them,” she said.

Both Reese and Bateman agreed the need for PPE and other supplies such as ventilators will increase as testing ramps up and the first case in the county is identified.

“To date, we’ve set out 26 tests for COVID-19,” Bateman said. “Right now, we’re waiting for 14 of them to come back but we’ve had no positive cases out of the 26 we sent out. We had one case, down in Dexter, that we sent out and that one (also) came back negative, so as of now, to my knowledge, there’s not a positive case in Cape County, but that can change at any time.”

Southeast and Saint Francis are working together on a joint response to coronavirus including the establishment of testing protocols and the opening of a drive-through testing center in Cape Girardeau’s Arena Park. The testing facility in a converted livestock exhibit structure will be operational today, but will only be available to those who have been prescreened by a physician or other health care provider and have been given an appointment to be tested.

“The testing center is not just to come to and to see if you might have COVID-19,” Reese said, and said people who come to the testing facility without an appointment will be turned away and will be required to go through a prescreening process.

“You can’t just show up,” she said. “You have to have a referral.”

Prescreenings can be performed by calling a local coronavirus hotline, (573) 331-4200, between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. daily. Testing appointments will be scheduled for those whose prescreenings indicate a possibility of a COVID-19 infection. It takes several days for tests results to come back and those who are tested will be advised to “self-quarantine” unless their results are negative.

Mark Winkler, the county’s director of emergency services, said it will be important for people to go directly home and isolate themselves after being tested.

“Go home. Don’t stop and get gas. Don’t stop and get groceries, don’t stop at the gym, just go home and isolate yourself,” he said. “That’s the best thing you can do.”

Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center director Jane Wernsman said she’s not surprised there have been no coronavirus cases identified in Cape Girardeau County yet because testing has been limited.

“There really has not been much testing so far, so with that in mind, you wouldn’t have any positives,” she said.

Although he wasn’t part of the media briefing, Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center medical director John Russell said afterward we can expect to hear reports of COVID-19 cases in the county once test results start coming back from testing labs.

“Our numbers aren’t going to start to spike until a week from now,” he said.

City government

Cape Girardeau Mayor Bob Fox and Jackson Mayor Dwain Hahs said while certain activities and functions in both communities have been temporarily discontinued during the coronavirus outbreak, essential services are still available.

“Public safety is our No. 1 priority,” Hahs said in his prepared remarks. “The Jackson police and fire departments have adjusted their protocols for responding to calls for service. Nonemergency calls will be prioritized, while emergency calls will be responded to as normal, 24-7.”

Jackson Civic Center has been closed until further notice and Jackson City Hall will be closed starting today and will remain closed through April 6, although city business can still be conducted by phone, email and, for certain services, through the city’s website.

“Our park system is open for residents, but we request that you do not gather in groups of more than 10 and that you observe social distancing,” the mayor said, and noted while the Jackson Senior Center is closed for group meals, it is still delivering meals to senior citizens and providing carryout meals.

“I’m confident that we have dedicated people working together and it will be a community effort that will move us beyond the days ahead,” Hahs said. “It is our civic duty to follow the instructions provided by our health care experts to ensure we go above and beyond to keep us healthy.”

Just as Jackson is doing, Cape Girardeau has also modified its municipal services as part of its coronavirus preparations.

“We’re providing all the services we normally provide, some on a limited basis when it comes to police calls and so forth,” Fox said.

“Our parks and recreation programs are basically canceled and all of our city buildings are locked and there’s no public access,” Fox added. “Social distancing is being used with employees to keep them safe and I encourage everybody in the community to do the same.”

The Cape Girardeau mayor said he believes “we have a very rough road in the weeks, and maybe the months ahead” and emphasized the importance of the executive order issued over the weekend by Gov. Mike Parson limiting group gatherings and promoting social distancing.

“We will conquer this crisis,” Fox said. “In recent weeks and months we’ve been a divided country, but now we’re united.”

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