Council looks to extend masking mandate

Brent Hubbard: Extension of mandate is essential to protect population.

Springfield City Council is scheduled to vote Dec. 14 on a proposal to extend the city’s face mask ordinance, officials say. The current order is set to expire Jan. 9.

Springfield-Greene County Health Department Director Clay Goddard and leaders from CoxHealth and Mercy recommended the extension during a council luncheon yesterday. During the meeting, Councilperson Matthew Simpson voiced support for the extension. City spokesperson Cora Scott said after the meeting that he is not alone.

“I think several others have alluded to the fact that they are in favor,” Scott said via email. “The mayor referenced being unified in a desire to extend the ordinance.”

At the meeting, Mercy Hospital Springfield President and Chief Operating Officer Brent Hubbard said the pandemic is continuing to grow in numbers in the Ozarks. He said the hospital had 108 inpatient COVID-19 cases as of yesterday – up from 103 a week ago – and that 160 hospital workers were in quarantine, as well.

The rate of infection continues to climb, Hubbard said, with close to a 16% positivity rate within Mercy Springfield Communities’ coverage area, compared with a 9% rate in September. He said 18 counties are represented in Mercy’s inpatient COVID-19 population, with 50% of positive cases being from Greene County, 20% from Christian County and a spike in cases from Laclede County.

He said these numbers might suggest that masking ordinances are working, but that is not true.

“We have to be compliant with masking, that’s the key,” Hubbard said at the meeting.

Hubbard also expects numbers to spike starting today, the two-week mark after the Thanksgiving holiday, one reason he said it’s imperative that council extends the ordinance.

“We have saved a lot of lives due to the masking ordinance and the impact of it,” Hubbard said.

Hubbard told council there is hope in the future with the development of a vaccine. But he said the availability of vaccines would be limited for an uncertain amount of time.

“Masking is the single-most practical thing we can do at this point as a community,” Hubbard said. “Now is not the time to back off the masking ordinance. If we do, I think everything we have done up to this point will be for not.”

CoxHealth President and CEO Steve Edwards also urged council to extend the masking ordinance at the luncheon. Since the beginning of the pandemic in the city, he said CoxHealth has had over 2,000 admissions from the virus. As of yesterday, he said the hospital had 143 COVID-19 positive patients, which is down from around 160 a week ago.

According to the Health Department’s COVID-19 recovery dashboard, there have been 247 coronavirus-related deaths and 16,720 cases in Greene County as of this morning. There has been a 14% increase in reported cases during the past seven days.