ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — St. Louis County parks will reopen sometime soon with new restrictions.
While Page said it is too early to talk about reopening the county, he said it is not too early to talk about what reopening might look like.
During a Monday morning briefing, St. Louis County Executive Sam Page said he will announce a plan on Tuesday to reopen the county’s parks.
“We will allow some of our residents to enjoy some of our best amenities and our stir-crazy kids will have some options to release some of their energy,” Page said.
“Closing our parks was necessary to help stem the spread of coronavirus in our community, but reopening them with some restrictions we believe is the right thing to do.”
Page is scheduled to make an announcement on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. He is expected to provide more details on when the parks will be open and what restrictions will be in place, according to a press release from Page's office.
As of April 27, there are 2,898 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the county. More than 900 people have recovered and 132 have died in the county due to complications from COVID-19.
Gov. Parson will announce plans to reopen the state on Monday. He’ll be looking at a statewide approach.
“I don’t believe St. Louis County is ready to relax our orders – St. Louis County is much different than the rest of the state, we have almost 40% of the diagnosis of COVID-19”
Page reiterated he will follow the models of our top health care officials when it comes to reopening the county. Page also continued to stress the importance of COVID-19 testing.
Page was asked about the county’s release of tipsters names when it comes to violators of stay-at-home orders and he said online it states that it is public record and he consulted with the attorney general’s office and knew it would be controversial.
“What people do with that information reflects more on the individuals who have that information more than anything else – I would not expect anyone to retaliate on someone who made a complaint or identified a concern in good faith,” he said.
Page also announced new members to the advisory group that will guide the administration on spending a CARES Act grant received from the federal government to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cindy Brinkley is the senior advisor of the group, County Cares. Deb Patterson will lead the humanitarian relief. Kathy Reimer and Dr. Paul Hintze were also named to the advisory group.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, St. Louis County Executive Sam Page will hold a briefing three days a week.
5 On Your Side will livestream the briefings on KSDK.com and the 5 On Your Side app.
Beginning on April 27, people in the county will be able to get tested at its north county or south county location. Individuals must register through the county and up to 25 people per day will be able to be tested. Page said its public health services usually provide care to up to 35,000 people, most of which are uninsured.
The county’s stay-at-home order has been extended until further notice. The initial stay-at-home order was set to expire on April 22. The new order does not have an official end date.
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