In the wake of new direction from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas on Wednesday reinstated the city mask mandate, effective Monday, Aug. 2.
The CDC announced new recommendations for vaccinated Americans on Tuesday, July 27 due to rising COVID-19 infection rates across most of the country — including Missouri.
Due to the delta variant now in circulation, the CDC now recommends that fully vaccinated people should wear a mask in indoor public places where there is high community transmission. The CDC also recommends universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status.
Infections happen in only a small proportion of people who are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC, even with the delta variant. However, preliminary evidence suggests that fully vaccinated people who do become infected with the delta variant can spread the virus to others.
Missouri remains one of the hot spots of the delta variant of COVID-19, particularly southern Missouri, but case counts locally are also on the rise.
As of Monday, July 26 the positivity rate in Platte County was at about 21 percent. The most recent peak was at nearly 26 percent on Tuesday, July 13, followed by another, smaller peak at 25 percent on Saturday, July 17. Platte County’s all-time pandemic high was at 44 percent on Tuesday, Jan. 5.
Meanwhile, county vaccination rates have remained flat this month, with about 30 percent of eligible county residents fully vaccinated.
In the Kansas City metro area, as reported by the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC), 392 new cases were reported on Tuesday, July 27. On Saturday, July 24, 675 new cases were reported across the region, the highest number of daily new cases since January.
Lucas announced that he will reinstate an indoor mask mandate — for all persons aged five and older, regardless of vaccination status — in places of public accommodation, effective at 12:01 a.m. Monday, August 2 through at least 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, August 28.
“Since COVID-19 first entered our community, Kansas City has followed the guidance issued by our nation’s leading scientific experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and locally by our own Health Department and regional health care leaders,” said Lucas. “With a 15 percent increase in hospitalizations over the past week and a full vaccination rate of just 39 percent in Kansas City, the CDC and our own Health Department have issued recommendations that all persons — regardless of vaccination status — begin masking in all places of indoor public accommodation. As such, Kansas Citians will need to begin masking in all indoor public places on Monday to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our community and throughout Missouri.”
Lucas said the most effective way to rid COVID-19 from the community is to get vaccinated, and the city will continue efforts to reach all Kansas Citians in all neighborhoods about the importance of taking the vaccine.