Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services (PHHS) Director Stephanie Browning has issued Public Health Order 2020-11 and 2020-11(c). These orders go into effect at 12 a.m. on Sept. 18 and are set to expire at 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 6, unless otherwise extended, rescinded or modified.
All restrictions under the previous health orders remain in effect. There are modifications to the order detailed below.
Boone County has seen a decrease in the number of COVID-19 cases since the order went into effect on Aug. 28. The five day average of new positive cases peaked on Sept. 5 at 143.4, but later fell to 65.2 on Sept. 16. This decrease was in the three weeks following the order, suggesting that restrictions in place are lowering the opportunities for transmission of the virus.
"While this is a promising change in our data, we are cautiously optimistic," said Browning. "We hope that extending this order can help continue slowing the spread of COVID-19 so that we are able to begin slowly loosening restrictions without seeing increased cases again."
PHHS is working to meet all reopening criteria, including the ability to maintain active disease investigation, contact tracing and monitoring. PHHS continues to address this by hiring additional staff with CARES Act funding.
Boone County residents can take simple steps to protect themselves and the people they care about by:
This release has the following attachments:
Health Order 2020-11 City of Columbia
Health Order 2020-11C Boone County
Health Order 2020-11 FAQ