By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph will attempt to lift some COVID-19 restrictions at the beginning of May.
St. Joseph city officials have tentatively agreed to relax some of the restrictions imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus by the first full week of May, coinciding with state plans.
Buchanan County Presiding Commissioner Lee Sawyer acknowledges this has been a very difficult time for everyone.
“It’s been very unique and something I think, just like I said, unchartered waters for a lot of people,” Sawyers tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “I appreciate what everybody is doing to try to do the right thing.”
Sawyer says a group of local officials, representing the city, county, school district, chamber of commerce, and Mosaic, meet weekly to discuss what restrictions need to be imposed and when they might be lifted.
The St. Joseph shelter-in-place order was to have expired on the 24th, but has been extended to tentatively expire or be altered after the 3rd of May. Under the order, only businesses designated as essential can operate and residents must stay home unless going out for necessities. People cannot gather in groups of 10 or more and are instructed to maintain at least six feet of distance between each other.
Sawyer says a May 4th date to partially reopen the local economy remains very tentative.
“So, we’re really just starting down that path of what a thoughtful, careful, safe beginning to a reopening would look like based on the current numbers,” according to Sawyer. “If all of the sudden in the next two weeks something changed dramatically then we would rethink it.”
Sawyer says plans being discussed take into account it is more difficult to maintain social distancing in some stores than others.
“Maybe some stores would want to require masks and that would make their customers feel better,” Sawyer says. “There are different things that have been talked about. I don’t believe there is any type of a set plan, but we have slightly less than two weeks to come together and figure out what makes sense and what’s a good first step.”