Council adopts thresholds to phase out COVID-19 rules

Springfield City Council last night voted in favor of a resolution setting three key indicators as the thresholds of the COVID-19 Road to Recovery plan.

Council approved the thresholds in an 8-0 vote, with Councilmember Phyllis Ferguson recusing herself because of the potential for financial gain. Ferguson has abstained from voting on the masking mandate, as well, due to her role in the restaurant industry that must enforce COVID-19 regulations. She serves as chief operating officer of Mexican Villa.

The three indicators, set by the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, will be used to determine when public health and safety regulations can be stepped down.

The key indicators are Greene County’s daily new case count, hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and the percentage of the eligible population that has been fully vaccinated. Katie Towns, acting Health Department director, said the indicators will be evaluated over a 28-day period, or two incubation cycles of the virus.

The city currently is operating under Phase 3C of the Road to Recovery Plan which maintains restrictions, such as masking, and limits occupancy in public areas to 50% to allow for physical distancing.

The next threshold requires a 25% vaccination rate, under 40 new cases per day and less than 50 hospital patients in COVID-19 isolation per day.

In that phase, most occupancy restrictions would be removed, and physical distancing would be recommended, but masking would still be required. Mass gatherings under 500 would be allowed with masking and distancing recommended, while gatherings of over 500 would be allowed at 50% capacity.

Towns said the city could move forward to the next phase if two of the three conditions are met as long as the third threshold shows strong progress.

Health Department officials anticipate meeting the 28-day period of low cases per day and hospitalization numbers by March 24, Towns said last night. As of this morning, the new daily case number was 21 and 44 patients were hospitalized, according to Health Department data.

Just under 12% of the eligible population has been fully vaccinated, and Towns anticipates meeting the 25% threshold in mid-April.

“We’re going to be making good progress, and I think we need to watch these next two weeks very closely,” Towns said.

To fully remove the ordinance, including mandatory masking, new cases per day and hospitalizations must both be under 20 and at least 50% of the eligible population must be fully vaccinated.