Governor touts testing in Monday coronavirus briefing; will not stop Barton execution

Two weeks out from the May 4 lifting of Missouri’s “stay-at-home” order, Gov. Mike Parson continued to accentuate the positive in his daily COVID-19 briefing Monday in Jefferson City.

Parson reported 1,200 additional vials of remdisivir, the much-touted experimental antiviral drug, were sent on to 33 Missouri hospitals and were used on 115 patients Friday.

Dr. Randall Williams, director of Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), said so-called “sentinel” testing is being done in 162 skilled nursing facilities and in the state’s 13 meat-packing plants.

Such facilities, in addition to jails and prisons, are the most watched locations for possible outbreaks of the coronavirus.

Williams said more than 8,000 tests are being conducted each day in those venues, with a near-term goal of increasing the statewide daily number to 10,000.

Nursing homes continue to be under particular scrutiny.

“We are now recommending comprehensive testing, meaning everybody gets tested, if even one patient or staff member of a skilled nursing facility tests positive,” Williams said.

“The more tests we do, the more positive cases will result,” Parson added.

“We’d like to see positivity rates at less than 10% of all tested,” said Williams, who noted “we’re at 4-to-5% now statewide.”

Williams said that if Missourians think they may have been exposed to the coronavirus, they should get tested.

“If you experience muscle ache, coughing, fever, get the test,” he said.

At the end of Monday’s briefing, Parson noted 27 new bills have been sent to his desk by the General Assembly for his signature.

He said he’s not ready to sign any of them.

“We’ll have general counsel review them,” said Parson, 64, who is running for reelection this year.

Parson also said the planned capital punishment of Walter Barton for a 1991 murder will move forward.

“We will not intervene,” Parson said without elaboration.

If carried out, today’s execution in Bonne Terre, Missouri, will be the first in the United States since March 5, before the current pandemic.