MARIES COUNTY — On Monday the Maries County Commission met with the Director of the Phelps-Maries Health Department and the Maries R-1 School District’s superintendent and school nurse to discuss the county’s response to the COVID-19 virus that is potentially sweeping across the United States.

Ashley Wann, RN, told the commissioners the health department is trying to educate the public about the virus and respond accordingly. Presiding Commissioner Victor Stratman said the county commission plans to keep the courthouse open unless the state decides to close all courthouses. In an effort to keep people safe, they are “sanitizing at an accelerated rate.”

Eastern District Commissioner Doug Drewel asked what Wann thinks. She said the virus has to be taken seriously and they need to do all they can to keep many people from becoming infected with the virus. It is a novel virus and because of this, they don’t know exactly how it will act, but the morality rate for elderly people is alarming. They want to reduce the spread of the virus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines say to limit gatherings of 50 people or more or of a gathering of 10 or more high risk people.

The CDC thus far has not indicated that schools should be closed. The schools are doing ramped up disinfecting although some schools have extended spring break and some are canceling school for two weeks.

Wann said they aren’t sure if the COVID-19 virus will act as other viruses and maybe when the weather gets warmer it will help. Right now, they are seeing a decrease worldwide but it is ramping up in the United States. A sixth person in Missouri has been found positive for the virus and the first five infected were all travel-related. Wann said the virus causes a fever of 100.4 or higher, cough, shortness of breath and chest pain. It can turn into double-lung pneumonia, which is dangerous and can cause death.

Western District Commissioner Ed Fagre said he was late for the meeting because of a meeting at Maries R-1 about the virus. At this time, school will be staying open, he said. Wann said schools serve the same people each day and they have made modifications in how they do things in order to promote good practices for disinfecting and not spreading a virus. She said Maries County is unique in that there are not a lot of people coming in from other places, although it doesn’t mean it can’t happen.

They talked about the jail stopping visitors and the many people who come to the courthouse on a daily basis, especially on court dates. County Clerk Rhonda Rodgers had an email from 25th Judicial Circuit Judge William Hickle who said the courts would remain open. Later, in the afternoon, she received a message from another county clerk saying the Missouri Supreme Court was closing all of the courts because of the virus. In the afternoon, the Supreme Court suspended all in-person proceedings in all appellate and circuit courts, including all associate, family, juvenile, municipal and probate divisions, through Friday, April 3. The court may extend its order as circumstances warrant.

Wann asked the commissioners to issue a recommendation for county residents, urging them to follow the CDC’s guidelines on mass gatherings. As the health department, they would rather be proactive than regretful, she said.

Stratman asked if the commissioners should approve a temporary ordinance. Wann said if they do it should say for eight weeks there should be no gatherings of 50 people or more as the gatherings should be modified, cancelled or postponed. If guidelines are needed they can contact the health department. There will be an economic impact but it is not known what that will be. But they know the virus is worse for elderly people. Some restaurants have stopped all dining in and are doing carry out only. Fagre said people need to use common sense when they go out.

The incubation period is two to 14 days. The health department “wants to flatten the curve,” avoiding high spike of the number of people infected with the virus as it will overwhelm hospitals. She said if all the preventable measures work, it will look as though it was all for nothing, and that’s the point.

For schools, they are talking about canceling all events, doing parent-teacher conferences with phone calls, and maybe even modifying graduation.

Stratman said the commissioners can make a recommendation but not a mandate, and it will not include the schools, which will make decisions for themselves.

Rodgers said some county clerks are canceling the April 7 Municipal elections. Some have suggested doing it by mail or putting it off until August. She also heard speculation of having it on June 2.

Stratman contacted Maries R-1 Superintendent Mark Parker who came to the meeting accompanied by school nurse Lindsay Otto. AT that time, Parker said he saw a need to slow down the spread of the virus. He thought school funding would be affected and it should be weighed with the safety of the community and obviously safety outweighs funding. If it is recommended school should be shut down, they will shut it down. Some schools in the area have closed to help slow the spread of the virus. Parker said if they close school, kids will still go places such as McDonalds and that is a danger. If they are in school, the school knows its environment is clean. They will be following a plan of essential and non-essential functions. Contact will be kept with parents as much as possible and they will keep in touch if there is any sickness.

Parker announced March 17 that the school district would be closed until further notice following a March 18 early dismissal.

The district was preparing for an emergency closing on Monday, as teachers were preparing packets with two weeks of lessons for the students.

Event though school has now been closed because of the coronavirus, both breakfast and lunch will be provided to any students who want it and the school has a plan for the lunches to be delivered by the bus drivers. There will be no cost to the student as USDA is picking up the cost, Parker said. They talked about using a colored placard system on the doorways of homes with green for okay and red for don’t come in. All homework that comes back to the school will have to be quarantined for 14 days.

The school has changed the fever free protocol from 24 hours to 48 hours.

Wann suggested at the time of the Commission meeting that if the school closed, the county commission should crack down on mass gatherings. Fagre said he’s not going to tell people what to do with their business. Drewel agreed, saying there’s no way to enforce the rule. Fagre said if they push too hard, it will cause a panic. Wann said they have to encourage caution. Parker said if a case of the virus is found here, “It’s bad then.”

Going forward, Wann said if someone is sick and they want to get tested, they should notify their health professional.

Stratman wrote a recommendation for county residents to be published in the newspaper, on the county’s website and on the Facebook page. It states for people to follow the CDC guidelines.

The commissioners said they would like the governor to step up and make decisions rather than putting the decisions on the individual counties and schools.

Parker said he feels bad for the high school seniors who may miss prom and graduation.

“Nothing is easy,” he said.

Otto said the goal is to stay with the CDC guidelines.

Wann said people seem to be making the right decisions.