ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — It’s been more than a week since the St. Louis area began its first phase of reopening during the coronavirus pandemic.
St. Louis County Executive Sam Page held one of his weekly briefings on Wednesday morning.
“The coronavirus was a challenge, but the people of St. Louis stepped up and we were able to get through some very tough times together. Beyond the public health crisis, we understand that COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on our economy, but we have to move forward, we have to get our economy open in a slow and thoughtful manner,” Page said.
Page has continued to stress the importance of COVID-19 testing since the pandemic began.
“In order to have a healthy economy, we need healthy workers – that’s why our public health response is so important and that’s why first and foremost our priority will always be the health and welfare of our residents in St. Louis County”
Page said the county continues to improve its testing. The goal in the county is to test 1,000 people per day.
Page said the county is testing at least 500 people per day.
“We’re over 500 now we know, part of the issue is collecting all of the testing results,” Page said.
Testing results will now be available on the county's online dashboard, Page said. It will be available at stlcorona.com.
Below is a snapshot of what the testing dashboard looked like on May 27
The green represents positive cases and the pink represents negative cases.
The county executive also addressed the viral photos from Lake of the Ozarks over the weekend.
On Monday, Page issued a travel advisory for St. Louis County residents that traveled to Lake of the Ozarks. The advisory urged anyone who ignored social distancing to self-quarantine for 14 days.
"What we saw this weekend was an international example of bad judgement," St. Louis County Executive Sam Page said.
The photos that have since made national headlines show people crowed in swim-up bars, outdoor restaurants and patios at Lake of the Ozarks.
"That is an exponential risk of contracting COVID-19, of transmitting COVID-19 and bringing it back to our community at the exact wrong time," Page said.
When asked about how the advisory will be enforced, Page said there's no way to know who was part of the crowds, but he hopes people take personal responsibility and "do the right thing."
The advisory also urged employers to ask workers about any recent traveling they’ve done and their social distancing behaviors.
Page also said that he knows some people went to the lake and followed social distancing guidelines.
“We know a lot of people that went to the lake who were able to follow social distancing guidelines and we believe that people can do that and still enjoy their time,” Page said.
As of May 27, there are 4,766 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in St. Louis County. More than 2,000 people have been released from isolation and 388 people have died due to complications related to the virus.
Page will continue to hold briefings on Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week as long as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
St. Louis County Executive issues travel advisory after viral photos
