by Sarah Thomack
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph Mayor Bill McMurray on Monday signed an emergency declaration following the CDC guidelines prohibiting in-person gatherings of 50 people or more for the next eight weeks.
“Commencing immediately, all in-person gatherings of fifty people or more within the City of St. Joseph, Missouri, shall be prohibited for eight weeks, except when such gatherings occur in the day-to-day operations of organizations such as schools, institutes of higher learning, or businesses.”
McMurray says the CDC did not define businesses and churches can decide on an individual basis whether they are going to continue or suspend services.
"At this point, the exemption for businesses we are deeming to include churches so they don’t have to abide by the 50 rule,” McMurray says. “But of course, as the CDC has told us, the way we stop the transmission of this virus is by avoiding crowds and I hope that everybody will bear that in mind. Wash your hands, avoid crowds and if you’re an older person with an underlying medical condition, stay home as much as possible so we can defeat this virus.”
The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City and St. Joseph announced they will suspend public Masses through at least April 3rd. For more information on this and other changes, visit the Diocese website.
According to the City of St. Joseph's website, a panel discussion regarding COVID-19 will be held Monday. The discussion will include representatives of the health department, Mosaic Life Care, Northwest Health Services, St. Joseph School District, Missouri Western State University and Buchanan County EMS. According to the city's website, a presentation will be made to discuss the current situation, facts surrounding the coronavirus, prevention and treatment, along with other relevant information, followed by a question and answer period.
In an effort to help reduce the spread of virus, this panel discussion will be conducted in a closed setting, meaning there will be no audience in attendance. Residents can watch the discussion live on cable channel 19, stream it live on the city’s website, or via Facebook live on the city’s page.
Residents can call in questions to the panel during the discussion which starts at 7 p.m. on Monday, by calling any of the following numbers: 364-1579, 364-1377, or 364-1380.