Butler County cases of COVID-19 now at 20; State looking at dates of stay home order

Butler County announced its 20th case of COVID-19 at 11 a.m. Thursday morning.

There are currently two people hospitalized in Butler County with COVID-19, according to Butler County Health Department.

The health department also reported that six people have recovered.

By age group, the county has seen the following number of individuals test positive: three people ages 20-29; three people ages 30-39; two people ages 40-49; five people ages 50-59; five people ages 60-69; one person aged 70-79; and one person older than age 80.

The number of confirmed Missouri cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, has now topped 5,000.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said he would announce Thursday whether he will extend his statewide stay-at-home order to help contain the spread of the coronavirus, the AP reported Thursday morning.

Parson, a Republican, was among the last governors to issue a stay-at-home order, which went into effect April 6 and is set to expire April 24. Parson said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon that his administration was preparing for the day “to move the economy forward.”

Late Wednesday night, Parson said on his Facebook page that he would make an announcement Thursday “after a number of conversations with local elected officials and other governors.”

St. Louis and Kansas City and their suburbs, along with several other counties in Missouri, instituted stay-at-home orders several days before Parson’s statewide order. St. Louis County Executive Sam Page said he expects the St. Louis-area order to be extended into May. He declined to offer a more specific date.

Data Thursday from Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering, which has been tracking cases worldwide, showed 5,142 confirmed cases in Missouri, a jump of 358, or 7.5%, from Wednesday. The number of deaths increased by one to 154.

A leader of the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force said the St. Louis region has had success in “bending the curve.” But Dr. Alex Garza, during a Wednesday afternoon news conference, warned that relaxing social distancing restrictions too early could cause a second wave of infections, and he said stay-at-home orders should remain in place for at least another month.

Because St. Louis, St. Louis County and neighboring counties were aggressive in issuing stay-at-home orders, the number of people who will become ill is now expected to reach 71,000 by the end of April. Initial projections were that at least 80,000 would be infected.