ST. LOUIS COUNTY — ºüÀêÊÓƵ and ºüÀêÊÓƵ County officials relaxed coronavirus restrictions on Monday, in the wake of tumbling case, hospitalization and death counts, almost exactly a year after an area resident became Missouri’s first confirmed COVID-19 patient.
ºüÀêÊÓƵ Mayor Lyda Krewson extended bar and restaurant hours to midnight, Krewson announced at an afternoon briefing, and said she might further relax restrictions if case numbers remain low.
ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Executive Sam Page opened private indoor gatherings of up to 20 people and outdoor gatherings of up to 30, raising a 10-person cap instituted in March 2020 when the county declared a state of emergency to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Today, there is hope,†Page said.
“The cautious reopening of ºüÀêÊÓƵ County remains possible because many of our residents have worn masks, limited gatherings and stayed home as much as possible and respected the space of others,†Page said. “The more we continue to do that, the safer we can be.â€
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Page also extended an 11 p.m. curfew on businesses to midnight, lifted indoor banquet halls and conference centers to 25% capacity rather than 50 people, and said sporting venues could request approval to include more than two spectators per athlete at sporting events. Other entertainment businesses, including casinos, theme parks and museums, can submit reopening plans to the county public health department for consideration.
The moves come after a long decline in new COVID-19 infections, tumbling death tolls and an expected increase in vaccine supply, following White House promises to provide enough vaccine for all willing U.S. adults by the end of May.
Missouri reported 270 new cases on Monday and a seven-day average of 357, far less than the state’s peak daily average of 4,723 new cases at the end of November. The average of new daily cases in ºüÀêÊÓƵ County fell to 136 on Monday after almost topping 850 in November; the city’s average tumbled to about 30 on Monday after almost hitting 200 in November.
The ºüÀêÊÓƵ Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force reported 24 new COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals in the area, down from 32 the day before, counts far lower than last week. There were 224 total virus patients across the region, in BJC HealthCare, SSM Health, Mercy and St. Luke’s Hospital facilities.
So far, 1,008,824 Missourians, or 16.4% of the population, have received at least a first dose of vaccine, up from 997,611 the day before. The vaccination rate in ºüÀêÊÓƵ County is 15.3%; in ºüÀêÊÓƵ 10.6%.
Still, task force chief Dr. Alex Garza said on Monday that the region is still at a “precarious time.â€
“Whether extending a bar time by an hour or not makes that much of a difference, it will be really hard to quantify,†he warned. “But I think the bottom line is, we just have to be very careful about what we’re relaxing right now, because we still have a significant amount of virus circulating out in the community.â€
At the same time, the state on Monday reported tens of thousands of previously unreported COVID-19 cases:
Throughout the course of the pandemic, 81,206 people in Missouri have tested positive through a different kind of testing, called antigen testing, or rapid tests, in addition to the 480,913 who tested positive through the more typical “PCR†tests.
Area counties and other states have long reported as “probable†cases the results of antigen tests, which are generally less sensitive than PCR tests. Illinois has combined confirmed and probable cases since November in its overall case count. But Missouri just included such results in its online dashboard on Monday.
The additions show that COVID-19 cases hit higher levels than previously understood:
In late November, for instance, when Missouri’s seven-day average of new, PCR-confirmed cases hit a height of 4,723, the state was also seeing 535 positive antigen tests each day, on average.
Nassim Benchaabane • 314-340-8167 @NassimBnchabane on Twitter nbenchaabane@post-dispatch.com