The number of positive cases are increasing quickly in Pettis County.
According to the Pettis County Health Center, there has been an increase of 34% in positive cases in Pettis County since last Monday. To date, there have been 4,955 tests administered in Pettis County. There are 231 positive cases with 80 of those cases currently active. As of Monday afternoon, there have been 149 persons who have been released from observation and eight people remain hospitalized. To date, there have been two deaths in Pettis County related to the virus.
The Health Center has received numerous calls regarding when nursing homes, assisted living and residential care facilities will be able to allow more visitation with loved ones. According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, which is the licensing and regulatory agency for these facilities, in order to move to the next phase of reopening, a facility most conduct baseline testing of all residents and staff, if there is a positive resident or staff, the facility must have 28 days without a new case in the facility and most importantly, there must be a steady decrease in cases in the county for 14 days. According to the Health Department, Pettis County is not close to reaching that goal.
At this time, the only options for bringing down the case count is for everyone to wear a mask, with limited exceptions, maintaining six feet of distance between non-household contacts including other family members who do not live in the household, good hand-washing, and staying home if you are ill.
Family gatherings and parties may seem safe, but Pettis County has seen a significant number of cases related to such events.