COVID numbers may soon permit modification of Cape County mask order

This story is updated.

The Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center (PHC) Board of Trustees, which issued a face covering mandate July 13 and amended it three months later, citing improved COVID statistics, might drop the masking standard from "required" to "strongly recommended" in the near future.

Significant discussion centered around the mask order at Tuesday's regular monthly trustees meeting, held via Zoom because of pandemic concerns.

Since the order was modified Oct. 27, face coverings have been required of all visitors and all residents of Cape Girardeau County unless clearly defined measurement criteria are met.

"We're not there yet, but we're real close," said PHC medical director John Russell.

According to the order, the mask mandate may be lowered to a strong recommendation if the lab-test positivity rate in the county falls below 5% for a two-week period and if the rolling 14-day case count of new COVID cases falls below 200.

"If the rolling count stays below 200 cases for 14 days, then I'm confident saying (the standard) is being satisfied, even if the positivity rate is higher (than 5%)," Russell said.

"I'm not a fan of the positivity rate (standard)," he added, noting the most recent availability data shows the rate is at 12.9%.

Board member Diane Howard asked Russell whether the positivity rate is no longer an accurate measure of what is truly happening with the pandemic in the county.

"I think that's a fair statement," replied Russell, adding COVID, in some form, will be in the community for some time.

By consensus, the trustees took no action to amend the mandate to remove the positivity rate criterion.

Acting chairwoman Georganne Syler suggested the trustees potentially could reconvene in two weeks to revisit the order if the lower case count trend continues.

The board was cautioned the timing of possibly changing the mandate will require advance "appropriate publication" in the Southeast Missourian and the Cash Book Journal.

Syler is leading the board following the Jan. 30 death of trustees chairman Roland Sander. The County Commission will fill Sander's seat after the April 6 municipal election.

"We're just two days into the 14-day period, so it's prudent to do a wait-and-see," Howard added.

PHC director and county health officer Jane Wernsman reported of 9,261 total COVID cases, 8,230 people have recovered, an 89% recovery rate.

"That (recovery figure) is just remarkable," said Wernsman, who added the county COVID death toll of 132 has been unchanged for more than a week.

Vaccinations

Trustees received an update on COVID inoculations and Wernsman commented on the county's high percentage of administered vaccine doses.

"We were ready to go when the vaccine arrived," she said, noting the great cooperation the PHC has received from SoutheastHEALTH, Saint Francis Medical Center, Crosstrails, Park Pharmacy, John's Pharmacy and Missouri Med Pharmacy.

"We started vaccinating 10 days to two weeks earlier than much of the rest of the state," added Russell, who said when the county got the vaccine in late December, doses began being administered as early as Dec. 23.

"Other parts of the state took the Christmas holidays and didn't get going until as late as Jan. 5," he added.

"We've had a very active infectious disease task force (in the county) since 2002," Russell explained, adding, "we had pre-existing relationships with SEMO, with public schools and the casino (and) all the groundwork had already been laid."

Cape Girardeau County, at 17.4%, was tied Tuesday for fourth among Missouri's 114 counties in percentage of the population vaccinated, tied with Gasconade, and behind Shelby, Atchison and Worth counties.