<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/3/1584391868090.jpeg" alt="Missouri Gov. Mike Parson/Photo by Brent Martin" />
 <figcaption>Missouri Gov. Mike Parson/Photo by Brent Martin</figcaption>
 </figure>By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostMissouri Governor Mike Parson assures Missourians the amount
of testing for the coronavirus will increase, dramatically, very soon.“I think you’re going to see some dramatic increases in the testing
within the next, actually daily, but I would say in the next two weeks we’re probably
going to have the capability of testing almost 10,000 per day,” Parson tells
reporters after meeting with local officials at Mosaic Life Care in St. Joseph
over the noon hour Monday.Missouri is receiving $9.9 million in federal emergency
funding to fight COVID-19. Another approximately $3.4 million is coming from
the federal government to buy supplies, such as masks.Parson late Friday issued an executive order declaring a state
of emergency, freeing up $7 million in state funds to help local governments
respond to the outbreak which the World Health Organization has labeled a
pandemic.Parson says any state action has one goal in mind.“The number one issue for me as the governor: &nbsp;make sure the public is safe. That’s the
number one issue,” Parson tells reporters. “There are a lot of other questions
that come up about what are we doing on the local level, what are we doing
statewide? But the initial response is what are we doing for the public safety
of this state? That’s my number one priority.”Parson says he joined a conference call Monday with President
Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and others in the Trump Administration
to discuss how best to react to the growing crisis. Six cases of coronavirus have
been diagnosed in Missouri; 170 people have been tested.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/3/1584391928370.jpeg" alt="Missouri Health Dir., Dr. Randall Williams, makes a point during a St. Joseph news conference as Gov. Parson looks on./Photo by Brent Martin" />
 <figcaption>Missouri Health Dir., Dr. Randall Williams, makes a point during a St. Joseph news conference as Gov. Parson looks on./Photo by Brent Martin</figcaption>
 </figure>State Health Director, Dr. Randall Williams, says Missouri is
in a period of transition. He says the state is in its diagnostic stage now and
will shift to surveillance at the beginning of April.Williams says the Missouri medical community is ramping up to
treat an expected rise in the number of Missourians suffering from COVID-19.“We’ve had two calls with all the hospital providers, 300
people on those calls,” Williams says. “We presented to the Senate-House joint
committee last Wednesday their preparations in a worst-case scenario. As you
know, this disease does have an extreme morbidity for especially elderly people.
And so, they presented their data then for the number of ventilators, ECMO, and
other facilities and they feel like they’re well prepared.”Williams says mobile testing labs will soon be established,
away from the hospitals.Parson is discouraging public events which attract more than 50
people. The governor says the food supply is safe and has not been disrupted by
the outbreak. Parson has left it up to local officials on whether to hold
school or not.

Gov. Parson in St. Joseph: Missouri is prepared for COVID-19