Laboratory assistants from Nextgen Diagnostics administer COVID-19 tests to a group of patients in a City of St. Louis Equipment Services vehicle during one of the city’s public testing sites events at the Electrical Workers Local One building in St. Louis Monday. The testing events at the IBEW are being held every Monday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Daniel Shular/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)
A medical group representing most hospitals in the St. Louis region expressed disappointment Friday in Gov. Mike Parson’s decision to allow Missouri’s pandemic state of emergency order to expire, saying it removes flexibility that helped hospitals treat the onslaught of COVID-19 patients.
The Republican governor on Thursday announced he was letting the pandemic-related state of emergency expire as of the end of December. In a statement, he said the state is ready to help but that “there is no longer a need for a state of emergency,” citing the effectiveness of vaccines, mitigation efforts and the work of health care professionals.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force pointed to skyrocketing numbers of cases and hospitalizations as the omicron variant takes hold and delta variant continues its rapid spread. The task force said in a statement that the emergency order had allowed the expanded use of telehealth services, gave hospitals the ability to exceed licensed bed capacity, and eliminated barriers for testing and treating COVID-19 patients.
“For health care systems in Missouri, the emergency order that enabled us to expand our ability to care for more sick patients will be lost,” the statement said. It urged Missouri lawmakers to reinstate “many of the provisions that are essential to providing health care services during this pandemic.”
Parson’s spokeswoman didn’t immediately reply to a Friday message seeking comment.
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