The United Gospel Rescue Mission in downtown Poplar Bluff was forced to close Wednesday after an outbreak of COVID-19 among its residents.
“Nine of our residents have contracted COVID so far,” said Gregory Kirk, executive director of the mission. “We’ve furloughed our staff with full pay and closed our thrift store to protect our staff, volunteers and shoppers.”
The mission currently is serving 21 residents, and none of those affected needed to be hospitalized.
The closure, Kirk said, was done after consulting with the Butler County Health Department.
“With the support and approval of the Butler County Health Department, we’re taking measures to protect our residents in recovery, staff, volunteers and donors for the time being,” Kirk said.
He added the mission has the “full support of the health department” and will “continue to follow its policies. Unfortunately, until this is over, we cannot take new residents into our program and we are not serving community meals.”
Kirk does not have a definite time frame for reopening, but said “we hope to reopen in about two weeks if the threat of further spread is over.”
All residents at the Vine Street location, Kirk said, have been isolated from each other, and those with COVID are restricted to their rooms, with meals delivered to their doors. Those who have not contracted the virus are being isolated elsewhere in the building.
With the closure, the mission’s thrift store will not be taking any donations until further notice, something Kirk said will hurt the bottom line.
“Closing the thrift store will cost the ministry several thousand dollars,” he said.
The store brings in about $2,700 per day, on average, and represents about 75% of the mission’s total income.
“We appreciate the community’s support so much, and we’ll welcome shoppers back as soon as we can,” Kirk said.