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St. Louis County signs executive order declaring state of emergency

Organized events with more than 250 people will be prohibited beginning Friday at 5 p.m.

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — St. Louis County Executive Sam Page signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency.

Page also announced organized events of more than 250 people will be prohibited beginning Friday at 5 p.m. This does not include religious gatherings or school attendance.

"We know for sure if we can keep large groups of people from congregating that we can prevent the spread of this disease," Page said at a press conference Friday.

Page said the county does not have enough tests to distribute.

"No one is going to argue that we don’t have enough tests," Page said. "But we don’t have the capacity in our country to build these tests yet. We have to be able to take care of people and patients until we have more tests."

There is one confirmed case of a patient with coronavirus in the county. The woman is currently in isolation in her home.

Thursday, St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson announced a public health emergency and prohibited events with more than 1,000 attendees, with the exception of religious gatherings and school attendance.

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