ST. LOUIS COUNTY — With the rest of the state beginning to emerge from a stay-at-home order, some residents and businesses have begun to rebel against the emergency order still in place in ºüÀêÊÓƵ County.
While violation of County Executive Sam Page’s stay-at-home order could be punishable by a misdemeanor charge, Doug Moore, a spokesman for Page, said Tuesday there were no plans to pursue legal action.
ºüÀêÊÓƵ and ºüÀêÊÓƵ County remain locked down indefinitely on orders from their top leaders. Page and Mayor Lyda Krewson have said repeatedly that they’ll revisit their respective stay-at-home orders in mid-May. On Tuesday, Page and Krewson said they would begin reducing the restrictions starting May 18 and that they would have more details later this week.
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Page has never threatened legal action against violators, instead warning last week that businesses who defied his order should get good legal advice and understand the impact on their insurance coverages if an employee or customer were to become sick with COVID-19.
Photos posted to Facebook on Monday by a customer of a Tex-Mex restaurant in Eureka showed a table of eight people sitting next to a table of four. A green coronavirus piñata, featuring a cutout of a flying bat and a caricature of an Asian person with a Fu Manchu mustache and conical rice hat, hovers above.
The customer, Andrew Sayles, thanked the restaurant for letting them come in from the rain. “The service was A1 and the food was amazing!†he wrote.
The restaurant, Camila’s Tex-Mex, said on its Facebook page it was planning an outdoor “Cinco on the Parking Lot†event with live music Tuesday for customers to bring their “chairs, tables, bags, washers and set up for a good time.â€
A manager told the Post-Dispatch the restaurant’s dining room was not open. Asked about the Facebook photo, the manager said employees may have let some customers inside who had been waiting outside in the rain.
In an interview, Sayles said he had organized a protest against the county’s “unjust†stay-at-home order. He said none of the 25 to 30 people who ate at Camila’s felt they were at risk of spreading the coronavirus and that “all of us were totally comfortable with it.â€
KMOV-TV (Channel 4) reported that gym in Chesterfield had opened on Monday. The owner, Joe Corbett, and were “prepared for what comes at us.†The gym said on Tuesday it wasn’t making any more statements.
Sean Flower, the mayor of Eureka, had been one of the first advocates for defying Page’s order, telling his residents in a letter last week that they would be able to open for business when the statewide order by Gov. Mike Parson expired on Monday. Flower reversed himself a day later, telling residents and businesses that he would not permit restaurants and most stores to let customers inside until May 15.
But he reversed himself again in a new Facebook post on Monday, sharing a that the county does not have the authority to close businesses. He also posted documents from lawsuits around the country where stay-at-home orders had been challenged. Based on those, he said, “there should be a legal review by ºüÀêÊÓƵ County prior to attempting (to) enforce these rules.â€
Butler is making the same argument that’s at the center of a federal lawsuit challenging the city and county stay-at-home orders.
The lawsuit was filed on Monday by Clayton attorney Bevis Schock on behalf of an antique store in ºüÀêÊÓƵ and a gym in ºüÀêÊÓƵ County. It asks the court to temporarily and permanently block emergency orders keeping many city and county businesses shuttered as the state begins to reopen.
The lawsuit points to a state law that county health commissioners may make orders that do not conflict with state health department rules and regulations.
State law says that in a statewide pandemic, only the state health director or a designated representative has the authority to close a private school “or other place of public or private assembly.â€
That case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark Sr. A telephone conference has been set for Wednesday.
Also on Tuesday, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced a five-phase plan for reopening the state gradually by region over months, but noted that current restrictions will not be lifted anywhere in Illinois until at least May 29.
He was asked what action the state might take against businesses that were quietly opening early, with social distancing and less than 10 people.
Pritzker said local law enforcement and officials should remind the business owners that they could have their permits and licenses removed. “There is action that the state can take in enforcement but were trying not to.â€
He would ask people in those communities to remind the businesses “that they’re putting other people at risk.â€
“Most people in Illinois are doing the right thing and they won’t be patronizing those stores knowing that they may be spreading the virus.â€
Robert Patrick of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.