Clay County Ends State of Emergency, Urges Vaccinations

On Thursday, May 27, the Clay County Commission issued a press release which stated members had voted to cancel the Covid-19 state of emergency declared over one year ago.

There is more work to be done - Western Commissioner Jon Carpenter

The Commission voted to rescind Resolution 2020-97 this week. The Resolution was the emergency order that was declared by the Clay County Public Health Center on March 18, 2020 in response to the Covid-19 outbreak.

The Commission decided to cancel the state of emergency resolution this week due to the positive improvements reported in Covid cases in Clay County.

Although the Resolution has been rescinded, Commissioners also expressed that efforts to protect citizens of Clay County are not ending.

In the press release the County reported that, “only 34% of Missourians, and 33% of Clay Countians have been fully vaccinated, well behind the national average vaccination rate of 50%.” The release continued to state that the Commission views vaccination awareness and opportunities to get vaccinated will be a crucial part of community recovery.

“Clay County understands that there is an ongoing response effort needed with COVID-19, that even though we are rescinding this resolution, we are not declaring this situation resolved,” said Western Commissioner Jon Carpenter. “We are encouraging our communities to continue getting vaccinations and following CDC recommendations. There is more work to be done.”

According to the Clay County Public Health Center’s website, there have been 10,166 cases of Covid-19 in the county (not under Kansas City jurisdiction), and 156 deaths attributed to the virus.

KPGZ News - Brian Watts contributed to this story