Masks are back in Kansas City, Missouri.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas officially introduced a new indoor mask mandate for the city on Wednesday, less than two months after the original order expired at the end of May.
The new mandate for Kansas City comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its mask guidance on Tuesday to recommend that fully vaccinated people wear masks indoors when in areas with “substantial” and “high” transmission of COVID-19.
Several states — including Missouri, Mississippi and Alabama — have “high transmission” in nearly every county, according to CDC data. Every county in the KMBC 9 viewing area falls into the “high transmission” area.
“Since COVID-19 first entered our community, Kansas City has followed the guidance issued by our nation’s leading scientific experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and locally by our own Health Department and regional health care leaders,” Lucas said. “With a 15% increase in hospitalizations over the past week and a full vaccination rate of just 39 percent in Kansas City, the CDC and our own Health Department have issued recommendations that all persons — regardless of vaccination status — begin masking in all places of indoor public accommodation.
“As such, Kansas Citians will need to begin masking in all indoor public places on Monday to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our community and throughout Missouri.”
The indoor mask order will be in effect for all persons aged five and older, regardless of vaccination status in places of public accommodation, effective at 12:01 a.m. on Aug. 2 through at least 12:01 a.m. on Aug. 28.
Leaders of the CORE 4 – which is made up of KCMO, Jackson County, Wyandotte and Johnson County – met in a regularly scheduled call Wednesday and discussed reimplementing restrictions.
However, no new guidelines were released.
“In this meeting, there was concern expressed for the level of COVID-19 transmissions in our communities and the health and safety of our residents,” CORE 4 said in a news release. “These neighboring jurisdictions shared input, concerns and initial reaction to the revised guidance issued by the CDC yesterday. The public and media can expect to receive updates from the individual jurisdictions in the coming days.”
Health leaders in Kansas City have been suggesting for weeks a mandate could be coming with the delta variant and most say they support the move.
“I am fully in support of the recommendation of people being masked up indoors,” said Dr. Angela Myers, who leads the infectious disease division at Kansas City’s Children’s Mercy Hospital.
The new mandate comes as Missouri’s urban areas of Kansas City and St. Louis are seeing a big uptick in cases in hospitalizations that began in rural areas of the state, especially in southwestern Missouri.
The delta variant of the virus is believed to be responsible for much of the spread in Missouri, especially in the southwestern and northern parts of the state. Officials also cite low vaccination rates, especially in rural areas.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said Tuesday he is filing a lawsuit against Kansas City‘s mask mandate.
“This mask mandate is about politics and control, not science,” he said. “You are not subjects but citizens of what has been the freest country in the world and I will always fight for you.”
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson also criticized the decision by the CDC to suggest a return to masking. He called the CDC’s decision “disappointing and concerning.”
“It’s disappointing because it is inconsistent with the overwhelming evidence surrounding the efficacy of the vaccines and their proven results, and it only serves to disrupt the increases we are seeing in vaccine uptake,” Parson said.
“This self-inflicted setback encourages skepticism and vaccine hesitancy at a time when the goal is to prevent serious illnesses and deaths from COVID-19 through vaccination.
“It’s concerning because the nation’s top public health agency appears to be cowering to the political pressures of those who only want to force mandates and shutdowns, which only further prolong the recovery we as a nation are working towards. This decision only promotes fear and further division among our citizens.”
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