Updated Coronavirus Guidelines For Kansas City Announced

From the City of Kansas City:

February 19, 2021

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas—in consultation with Kansas City Health Department Director Rex Archer, M.D. and Emergency Medical Services Medical Director Erica Carney, M.D.—today announced updated COVID-19 guidelines for Kansas City, effective February 19 at 10 p.m., as our community continues its work to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and vaccinate our population.

“I thank Kansas Citians and local businesses for their cooperation and for doing their part to slow the spread of COVID-19 over the past several months during a period where our region, much like the country, experienced a significant uptick in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths,” said Mayor Lucas. “Back then, we said that these restrictions were meant to get us through a very tough moment—and they did. I am proud that due to these efforts, we have been slowly but surely curbing the infection rate in our community, with 10 weeks of decline in COVID-19 cases, taking us back down to early October levels. As we work to get more Kansas Citians vaccinated each day and continue to enforce common sense COVID-19 precautions, Kansas City government is also focused on economic recovery.”

“Based on case numbers and positive trends, the City will be rescinding the city-wide curfew for these establishments, consistent with early October rules to match early October case rates." continued Mayor Lucas. “Instead, City enforcement agencies will focus on holding accountable establishments and events that encourage or allow reckless behavior that threaten the health and safety of attendees; and our Health Department remains focused on getting vaccines in arms as quickly and equitably as possible. Moving forward, we must all continue to take personal responsibility and remain vigilant about taking necessary precautions to drive the infection rate down until all Kansas Citians are safe from this virus.”

“In November, not only were we facing record increases in new cases and COVID deaths, our hospitals were also under tremendous pressure,” said Dr. Archer. “Currently, we’re seeing a hopeful reprieve in those areas, but with new, and more highly contagious variants emerging, we must remain vigilant. All Kansas Citians must continue to follow our protocols of wearing masks, maintaining at least six feet social distancing and take the vaccine when it becomes available to you. Avoiding the next surge is dependent on this.”

Updated guidelines are as follows:

• Restaurants, bars, and taverns may resume operating according to their permitted hours, and no longer need to close to in-person service at midnight, though these establishments must follow Social Distancing Requirements between separate parties and tables, from back of chair to back of chair.
• All attendees and staff at events must follow masking and social distancing guidelines. While events are no longer required to submit a mitigation plan, the Kansas City Health Department will be available for consultation to ensure safety at these events.
• Provided all attendees follow masking and social distancing guidelines, there is no upper limit on gathering size.

Guidelines that remain unchanged:

• Masks must be worn in all indoor spaces with more than one person per room, and all outdoor spaces where social distancing cannot be maintained.
• Restaurants, bars, taverns, and events must follow Social Distancing Requirements between separate parties and tables, from back of chair to back of chair.
• Indoor and outdoor patrons at facilities where food or drink is served for on-site consumption (including event spaces) must be seated and masked at all times, except when actively eating or drinking.
• Business and event operators must immediately report any known COVID-19 cases among staff or patrons to the Kansas City Health Department.

Any violations of this order can be sent to COVIDViolations@kcmo.org. Businesses found to be violating these regulations may be fined, suspended, or shuttered by Kansas City government.

Visit kcmo.gov/coronavirus for the Thirteenth Amended Order and a full list of FAQs.

Kansas Citians interested in signing up for text updates from the City of Kansas City regarding COVID-19 should text COVIDKC to 888-777. They can sign up to indicate their interest in getting the COVID19 vaccine by filling out this form provided by the Kansas City Health Department, also available in Spanish.

For more information, visit the CDC’s website at cdc.gov/coronavirus or kcmo.gov/coronavirus You may also call the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services hotline at 877-435-8411 for questions regarding COVID-19 in Missouri.

This press release was produced by the City of Kansas City. The views expressed here are the author’s own.