The Christian County Health Department joins the growing ranks of public health agencies halting work related to stopping the spread of COVID-19. The announcement comes in the wake of a court ruling in Cole County and under threat of legal action from the Missouri Attorney General's Office.
The Christian County Health Department announced the stoppage of COVID-19 work on Dec. 13.
"While our agency remains steadfast to protect the health of our county residents, it should be understood that this ruling greatly impacts how we will be able to go forward with all highly communicable diseases in our future," a statement from the Christian County Health Department reads.
On Dec. 9, the health department gave notice to all schools within Christian County that it would immediately cease notifying or contacting students or their families in any manner with regards to COVID issues, as had previously been initiated in conjunction with the schools.
"This was in response to the recent Cole County circuit court decision and the support and direction of the Missouri Attorney General," a statement from the Christian County Health Department reads.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt sent a letter to the Christian County Health Department, among other county health departments across Missouri, on Dec. 7.
“Under this judgement, all mask mandates, quarantine orders, and other public health orders that are based on any of the invalidated regulations or issued outside the protections of the Missouri Administrative Procedure Act are null and void," Schmitt wrote. "You should stop enforcing and publicizing any such orders immediately. Failure to follow the court’s judgment may result in enforcement action against you to remove orders the court has determined are unconstitutional and illegal. We encourage you to take immediate action to remove all unconstitutional and illegal orders."
The Christian County Health Department, in response, will cease all COVID-19 related work, including investigations, contact tracing, quarantine orders and public announcements of cases and deaths.
"While this is an immense worry for our agency, we have no other options but to follow the orders of the Missouri Attorney General at this time," the statement from the Christian County Health Department reads. "We are looking for additional guidance from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services."
The health department recommends Christian County residents who have been or will be diagnosed with COVID-19 and require quarantine, isolation or any other information to take the following steps:
-For health questions, quarantine or isolation information, consult your healthcare provider for guidance.
-Visit the CDC website (http://www.cdc.gov) for information on protecting yourself, your household, school, workplace and community.
-For additional answers to questions pertaining to this state of affairs, please contact the DHSS COVID Hotline (877-435-8411) or the Missouri Attorney General’s Office (573-751-3321).
The statement went on to say that the Christian County Health Department "has and will continue to be pro-health, pro-science and pro-vaccine."
As of Dec. 12, there have been 11,186 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Christian County since March of 2020. There were 152 cases confirmed to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services in the seven days from Dec. 5-12, an average of 22 new cases per day.
A total of 167 Christian County residents have died of COVID-19, and another 35 deaths have been classified as "probable," which means a person who died tested positive for COVID-19 antigens in their bloodstream.
