Greene County Stay-At-Home order extended to May 3

The Greene County Stay-At-Home order, which was scheduled to expire on Friday, April 24, was extended to Sunday, May 3, according to a statement issued by the Greene County Commission on Tuesday, April 21.
At the same time, the commission eased some of the restrictions imposed on Monday, April 6. That order directed “non-essential” businesses to cease operations, though employees who were able to were allowed to continue working from home. The new order amended that restriction to state: “Businesses which sell at retail, including those which otherwise do not qualify as an Essential Business, may take orders by telephone, online, or by any other ordering system in which the order is not made in person and may fulfill those orders by shipping, delivery, or curbside pickup.”
The extension of the order, as well as the relaxing of some of the restrictions, was announced at a joint-press conference with Springfield-Greene County Health Director Clay Goddard, Springfield Mayor Ken McClure, and Presiding Greene County Commissioner Bob Dixon.
Goddard announced that the new order would take effect “immediately.” He also urged Greene County residents to continue to take steps to protect themselves and others against the COVID-19 virus, stating it was not yet gone from the area.
“I need to reiterate that while our numbers have been encouraging, and our prevention, containment and mitigation efforts are solid, we cannot rush a return to normal,” he said. “We have 92 cases of COVID-19 in our community as of this morning, (and) we have 38 of those that are considered active cases. This illness is not gone from our community. There is still no vaccine; there is still no validated treatment. There is still disease circulating here. We’ve taken this seriously, and we must continue to be vigilant as a community.”
Dixon delivered a similar message.
“In the coming weeks, we will begin easing the order and loosening the restrictions, but these must be in phases, because none of us wants to repeat what we’ve had to go through,” he said. “At first, we will lighten the restrictions, and this will be the beginning of relief, but we will not be quite back to normal just yet. We ask that you stay the course. We want to continue to be mindful, to monitor the reemergence of risk, and go forward with continued deliberation.”
The full order may be seen on the Greene County Government’s website at www.greenecountymo.gov.