ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — St. Louis County is increasing its efforts to test residents, get the results back faster and expand into under-served communities.
During a scheduled briefing Monday morning at the John C. Murphy Health Center in Berkeley, Page said the county is partnering with the Betty Jean Kerr People’s Health Centers to increase testing and provide more sites for north county residents. The centers will receive $587,000 to go toward new sites, equipment and supplies through the end of the year.
Once the new locations are up and running, they will be added to the county’s coronavirus website.
During the briefing, Page also was asked about whether there were any issues with the new restrictions on bars over the weekend. Beginning Friday, they were ordered to close by 10 p.m.
He said the county received about “a dozen or so” complaints about bars not following the new health order, but added that some of those complaints might have been duplicates. He said the county health department will follow up with all of the establishments and send out warning letters as needed. He said he wants to give all of them a fair chance to comply with the new restriction first.
“And then, we’ll begin enforcing them,” Page said.
When asked whether the restrictions on youth sports guidelines will be eased anytime soon, Page said discussions are underway for what that could look like when it happens, but restrictions will not be loosened just yet.
“The presence of coronavirus is trending in the wrong direction,” he explained.
The county executive even pointed to the news over the weekend of several members of the St. Louis Cardinals organization testing positive.
“Even in the most intense testing environment with unlimited resources, it’s still very difficult to prevent the spread of COVID,” he said.
Page said that meetings, fans and crowds continue to be considered high-risk for spreading COVID-19.
Page’s briefing Monday happened one day before voters head to the polls for the St. Louis County executive primary, in which Page is running as the incumbent. Page, a Democrat, is running against three opponents: Mark Mantovani, Jake Zimmerman and Jamie Tolliver.
St. Louis County reported 13,474 total COVID-19 cases as of Monday morning, which is more than twice as many as any other jurisdiction in the state, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
For a full county-by-county breakdown of cases in the state, use our interactive map. Some of the local county numbers come from local health departments and may not match data from the DHSS.