Wyandotte County has limited gatherings to 10 people or fewer in the wake of increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations here.
Currently the limit on gatherings is 45 in Wyandotte County. The announcement came today at the same time as Kansas City, Missouri, also limited gatherings to 10 and implemented other restrictions. Jackson County, Missouri, coordinated with Wyandotte County in the announcement.
Under the new rules, which will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday, Nov. 20, bars and restaurants will now close by 10 p.m. Everyone in bars or restaurants will be required to be seated, socially distanced and masked when they are indoors. They may remove their masks while they are eating. There are new limits on the number of occupants.
The order will remain in effect until it is changed or rescinded, according to Unified Government officials.
“With increasing COVID-19 rates in our area, and local hospitals and public health experts warning of critical shortages in staffing and rooms as a result, we must undertake additional measures now to help slow the spread in our communities,” Mayor David Alvey said in a statement. “These actions today, along with the continued usage of masks and social distancing, will hopefully allow us to avoid additional restrictions in the future. As we enter the holiday season, let us commit to one another to neither get nor give the virus.”
“Let me be clear, we are currently experiencing uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 in our communities. Due to the dramatically increasing rate of the disease in our community, our hospitals have warned that they are facing a breaking point and the care their patients desperately rely upon may soon have to be rationed, if not worse,” said Frank White, Jr., Jackson County executive, in the announcement. “Along with doctors from across the metro area, our public health professionals have urged us to implement dramatic, but targeted, changes to our public health orders in an attempt to ‘flatten the curve.’ These changes are not being made lightly, but instead were made because we have been convinced that they are necessary to protect the safety and welfare of our residents.”
Janell Friesen, a spokesman for the Unified Government Health Department, said that any gatherings of more than 10 people would need to get approval from the Health Department. Some types of public gatherings will be limited by percentage of their capacity.
According to the Health Department, unless otherwise noted in the order, the following public gatherings are restricted:
• Entertainment venues including auditoriums; arenas; banquet halls; cinemas; conference centers; concert halls; performance venues; sporting venues; stadiums; and theaters;
• Recreational facilities and places of public amusement, including gyms, fitness, and recreational centers, amusement parks; arcades; bingo halls; bowling alleys; casinos; night clubs; skating rinks; adult entertainment clubs; water parks; and trampoline parks;
• Parties, informal gatherings, lectures, meetings, parades, fairs, festivals, sporting events, and performances
According to the Health Department, the public gatherings must limit the number of individuals (staff and customers) in the facility, building or room to 50 percent of the lowest occupancy load on the certificate of occupancy of the facility, building or room (whichever is lower) in which the gathering is occurring and is only permissible:
• If adequate social distancing of six feet or more can be maintained. If such social distancing cannot be maintained due to facility layout, the occupancy limit should be further reduced to allow for proper distancing.
• Masks or face coverings must be worn at all times
• Proper personal protective equipment (such as masks and hand sanitizer) must be utilized.
The Health Department stated that restaurants, taverns, and all other such venues serving food or drink, or both, indoors, including public, private, or membership-only venues, shall limit the number of occupants to no more than 50 percent of building occupancy and shall close no later than 10 p.m.:
• Indoor patrons must be seated and masked at all times except when actively eating or drinking;
• Indoor and outdoor parties are limited to eight (8) or fewer persons; and
• Parties shall be spaced with no less than six feet of distance between themselves and individuals from any other parties.
The Health Department stated other large public gatherings of people that are prohibited:
• Large public gatherings are those with more than ten (10) people in attendance or anticipated to attend, both indoor and outdoor, except for governmental and judicial functions, healthcare facilities, private business or retail operations, religious and faith-based activities, weddings, and funerals. A “gathering” does not include normal operations at spaces where persons may be in transit or coming and going individually or in groups of less than ten (10) persons.
For all gatherings of people, health officers strongly encourage everyone to follow guidance provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), federal, state, and local public health officials and private medical providers.
Friesen said this latest order today does not apply specifically to school classrooms, and there have recently been new recommendations put in place for schools. The previous school order was recently updated. There also were new guidelines for sports in schools.
She said the new health order will be posted on the UG’s COVID-19 website, https://alpha.wycokck.org/Coronavirus-COVID-19-Information.