Town opts not to defy county
Missouri’s Eureka retreats, agrees to stay home for now
The town of Eureka, Mo., won’t stray from St. Louis County’s stay-at-home order after all.
Eureka Mayor Sean Flower said that based on feedback and discussions in the community, he has dropped his plan that would have allowed businesses to reopen starting Monday, in accordance with Gov. Mike Parson’s statewide reopening.
St. Louis County Executive Sam Page’s order remains in place through mid-May, as does St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson’s order. More than half of the state’s 8,000-plus confirmed cases of covid-19 have occurred in St. Louis city and county, along with about two-thirds of Missouri’s 358 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University figures Friday.
Flower posted a letter Tuesday saying Eureka, a city of about 10,000 residents, was breaking from the county mandate, citing the economic damage caused by the shutdown aimed at slowing the virus’s spread.
His latest letter, posted Thursday on Facebook, said it’s now clear that businesses aren’t ready to reopen. They need to call back laidoff workers, establish social distancing guidelines, order new inventory and make other preparations, Flower wrote, adding that businesses and residents also are “rightly concerned about the health issue.”
Jackson County will allow businesses to ease into reopening starting May 11. County Executive Frank White Jr. said the phased-in approach aligns with similar plans in neighboring Wyandotte and Johnson counties in Kansas.
“The community’s compliance to the stay-at-home orders have been effective in flattening the curve, allowing us to make plans to move forward in a smart and safe manner,” White said in a statement.
Five residents of a St. Louis County long-term-care facility have died “presumably from covid-19,” the administrator said.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Parc Provence administrator Kathy Aragon told residents and their families about the deaths in a note Wednesday.
Coronavirus deaths have been reported at several other Missouri nursing homes and residential care facilities, including 16 at Frontier Health and Rehabilitation in St. Charles. The death of the latest resident, a woman in her 70s, was reported Thursday.
Grandview Health Care in Washington has reported at least 10 deaths. Five residents of Morningside East, an assisted-living facility in Springfield, have died.
One nursing home resident who recovered from the coronavirus is Rudi Heider of Friendship Village in Chesterfield. Officials with the nursing home said Heider is among the oldest people in the world to survive the virus. He celebrated his 107th birthday Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the St. Louis Metro Evening Whirl is returning to newsstands. The crime-fighting publication said Friday that the next issue will be available May 11.
The Evening Whirl suspended publication March 31, in part over concerns about exposing carriers to the coronavirus.
Also, the Missouri Republican Party said its congressional district conventions will be held by mail. The conventions are held in each of the eight congressional districts, with each district selecting three delegates and three alternates for the Republican National Convention. One presidential elector also is chosen for each district.