Local leaders praise region’s ‘COVID shift’ as pandemic reaches 1-year mark

Today, March 13, marks the one year anniversary of a state of emergency declared by the President of the United States and the Governor of Missouri to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is also the day the Butler County Emergency Operations Center was opened to assist the local community.

Butler County has had 4,302 COVID cases and 42 deaths in the past year. The state has seen 482,732 positive cases and 8,307 confirmed deaths.

Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce President Steve Halter’s colleagues across the state and the country are envious of how well Poplar Bluff and Butler County have performed during the COVID pandemic.

While both states of emergency are still in effect and the operations center is still open, Poplar Bluff and Butler County have remained open. Residents and businesses have continued their lives and careers.

Halter said, “It is funny to me that states like Texas and Mississippi have received national headlines for lifting mask mandates, when Missouri under the leadership of Gov. Mike Parson never issued a statewide mask mandate. For the most part, businesses in Missouri have been open since May of last year.”

Halter credits team work for the local area’s success.

Halter said, he’s “extremely proud of how the city of Poplar Bluff and Butler County have handled this situation. I think it was smart to be cautious the first few weeks in April of last year, when there were so many unknowns. At first I believe there was a struggle locally between the Butler County Health Department and many of our local businesses, but kudos to Emily Goodin and her staff and board for working with us and figuring out a way we could keep our businesses open, while keeping people safe.”

“Poplar Bluff has weathered the COVID storm much better than most communities because our businesses, health department and city/county government worked through it together, as well as Gov. Parson leaving most decisions to our local governments,” Halter said.

Halter also is “very appreciative of how Emergency Management Director Robbie Myers and all of our medical facilities handled this last year. Things would have been much worse without their leadership.”

While Halter talks about team work, Myers emhasizes the collaborative, effective and efficient way the area works, which made it possible for Poplar Bluff to be “the site for the first National Guard COVID vaccinations in the country.”

When Missouri officals decided they were going to use the National Guard, Myers explained, the state was “trying to pick the region for the first clinic. They looked at some different demographics and some different things related to COVID. But, I think what became one of the deciding factors was the way in Southeast Missouri, emergency management, health departments and local communities come together, and we’re able to get things done and particularly in our area, having a reputation of all those groups who would be involved, knowing that helped make us be part of that.”

Myers admitted “the challenges of being first and working out the kinks can have its own issues. We were proud to be able to get that vaccine out first for those who were really wanting it in our area. (Since) the first one, a lot of the lessons were learned, and they are being followed around the state since then.”

The state created a registration system that is much better than what Poplar Bluff had for the first event, Myers said.

While Butler County Health Department Administrator Emily Goodin said the COVID-19 case load has declined over the past couple of weeks, which is good news. The healt department plans to release case updates weekly now instead of daily. There were 47 active cases in Butler County this week.

Thanking the partners, Goodin said, “we really appreciate everybody coming to the table and helping out.”

“The next tier opens up Monday, March 15,” Goodin said. “This is going to include our essential infrastructure. That’s going to be our teachers, our daycare workers, along with everybody else that we’ve been vaccinating so far.”

While the Poplar Bluff region worked together, Halter said, there is a popular phrase being thrown around called the “COVID shift” and people have created companies just to handle the change in buying habits around COVID.

Halter said, “I believe many of our local businesses displayed tremendous resiliency and creativity during this last year. Again, many didn’t have to change much because we didn’t see the lock downs like other communities did. “

While some businesses closed, Halter believes “they were already struggling. Most of the businesses ended up 2020 with a solid financial performance. My colleagues all over the state and the country are envious of how well our community has performed and how we, for the most part, have continued to live our lives and conduct business without major disruptions.”

Businesses are open and have bounced back nicely, said Halter, adding “a lot of credit goes to the knowledge and efficiency of our local banks as it pertains to PPP and EIDL loans. I am so proud of our local financial institutions, from our banks to our accounting firms.”

PPP are pay check protection loans and EIDL are economic injury disaster loans, which were provided by the Small Business Administration.

Stimulus packages for both local individuals and local business have “absolutely” helped, Halter said. The stimulus money was meant to prop businesses up during the lock downs.

“Fortunately for us, many of our businesses weren’t closed down very long, so the funding was sufficient,” he said.

While small, privately owned restaurants had it extremely difficult at first, Halter said, it is “thanks to the health department making good decisions they were able to weather the storm. Imagine how many of the restaurants in states like Illinois and California will go under. It is so sad for those businesses. People have lost not only their livelihoods, but their lifetime dreams. That would have been the same scenario here if our state and local government would have restricted dine-in for an extended period of time.”

A few of the corporate restaurants are still not open for in-person dining, but that is a corporate decision, not a local mandate, Halter said.

While many areas in the country are still struggling with educational issues, Halter credits local educators with keeping students in classes both in the public school systems and at Three Rivers College.

The schools did close last spring and Three Rivers College went virtual, but went back to in person classes in the fall.

“I am so thankful to Dr. Wes Payne and Dr. Scott Dill and their boards for fighting so hard to keep the children in school,” Halter said.

While the national media portrays it as if no schools have been open, “our schools have been open all year,” Halter said. “This hasn’t happened by accident. Our state and local government have allowed it to happen and Dr. Payne and Dr. Dill and their teams have performed the ‘COVID shift’ masterfully. Kids need to be in school and most importantly to me (and the business community) parents need to be at work. They can’t be at work if they are having to stay home with children who should be in school.”