Mayor Lucas Announces Safer at Home COVID-19 Guidelines

Mayor Lucas Announces Safer at Home COVID-19 Guidelines for Kansas City

Lucas: Overcoming this crisis requires an aggressive and immediate response

Post Date:11/16/2020 12:20 PM

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – November 16, 2020

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas—in consultation with Kansas City Health Department Director Rex Archer, M.D. and Emergency Medical Services Medical Director Erica Carney, M.D.—today announced Safer at Home guidelines for a partial slowdown of activity in Kansas City as our community continues its work to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

“We are in the toughest moment since this virus came into our communities, and overcoming this crisis requires an aggressive and immediate response,” said Mayor Lucas. “State lines, county lines, and city lines are nothing more than street names. It takes leadership and all of us—our entire region—to slow the spread.”

“Our Safer at Home guidelines are based on recommendations from health leaders in Kansas City, in Jackson, Platte and Clay Counties in Missouri, and Wyandotte and Johnson County in Kansas,” continued Mayor Lucas. “We all have a role to play in slowing the spread of COVID-19. We are Safer at Home and I encourage all Kansas Citians to significantly limit their activity as we work to mitigate the spread of this virus, which will help decrease the strain on our hospitals and healthcare workers and keep your families safe.”

“Without these additional protective measures to prevent COVID-19 transmission, we as a community will continue to see this epidemic spiral out of control,” said Dr. Archer. “Not only are we seeing record increases in new cases and COVID deaths, we will also experience additional deaths that could have been saved if there was room in the hospitals to treat these other conditions. If everyone takes personal responsibility to follow our new orders dozens of lives will be saved.”

"At this rate of widespread of transmission, our hospitals are experiencing unprecedented capacity issues,” said Dr. Carney. "With a worrisome spike in COVID-19 cases, the health system is quickly running out of beds and staff to be able to handle this influx of patients. We have no capacity. Slowing down the rate of infection must be everyone's top priority."

Mayor Lucas, Dr. Archer, and Dr. Carney strongly recommend businesses to allow their employees to work remotely to the fullest extent possible, and families to avoid holiday gatherings.

New guidelines are as follows:

All indoor gatherings are limited to 10 people maximum.
Restaurants, taverns, and all other venues, including wedding and other event spaces, shall close at 10 p.m., require social distancing between different parties, and limit the number of occupants indoors to no more than 50 percent of building occupancy. Indoor and outdoor patrons at these facilities must be seated, and also masked at all times except when actively eating or drinking.
Indoor and outdoor parties are limited to a maximum of 10 people and parties shall be spaced with no less than six feet of distance between themselves and individuals from any other parties.
Restaurants, taverns, and bars must immediately report known COVID-19 cases to the Kansas City Health Department.
Masks must be worn in all indoor spaces with more than one person per room, and outdoor spaces where social distancing cannot be maintained.
Patrons of gyms, fitness, and recreational centers, including city, school, and other publicly-owned and managed facilities are required to wear masks at all times, and these establishments are limited to no more than 50 percent capacity.

Any violations of this order can be sent to COVIDViolations@kcmo.org.

Click here for Eleventh Amended Order. Click here for a full list of FAQs.

Kansas Citians interested in signing up for text updates from the City of Kansas City regarding COVID-19 should text COVIDKC to 888-777. For more information, visit the CDC’s website at cdc.gov/coronavirus or kcmo.gov/coronavirus. You may also call the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services hotline at 877-435-8411 for questions regarding COVID-19 in Missouri.