Health officials play blame game on COVID-19

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) Missouri Gov. Mike Parson suggested Tuesday that some southwestern Missouri health officials who publicly discuss a marked increase in COVID-19 cases try to find someone one to blame and want to scare people into getting vaccinated.

Health officials should try to encourage people to get vaccinated, but shouldn’t try to force people to get vaccinated or literally scare them into taking a vaccine because we know it doesn’t work. Parson said during a stop in Kansas City.

Springfield health officials have warned their hospitals are being overrun with new cases fueled by the delta variant. Last week, the Mercy Health System announced it would require employees at its more than 40 hospitals, including one in Springfield, to be vaccinated by the end of September.

We just have to make sure that people aren’t afraid to think that they are doing something wrong by going to the hospital. And I think the message you’re seeing in southwestern Missouri is that more people are just trying to blame someone for this virus. The virus itself is to blame, Parson said.

On Monday, Mercy in Springfield was treating 134,130 COVID-19 patients, while CoxHealth, the other major hospital in Springfields, had 125. Greene County, where Springfield is located, increased its 7-day moving average of new cases dailies from 79 to 165.

Springfield hospital officials noted that people across the region who are diagnosed with COVID-19 are going to city hospitals for treatment. About 34.3% of Greene County residents had completed vaccinations on Tuesday, and several surrounding counties had even lower numbers.

This increased spread of the virus has put a strain on our health care system, Katie Towns, acting director of the Springfield-Greene County Department of Health, told City Council on Monday.

The spokeswoman for Cox and Mercy hospitals in Springfield did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Parsons’ remarks.

The outbreak prompted Springfield officials to cancel the popular Birthplace of Route 66 festival scheduled for late August, citing the growing number of cases and hospitalizations, as well as the region’s low vaccination rate, the Kansas City Star reported.

Springfield Mayor Ken McClure told reporters Monday that it would be impossible to enforce a new mask warrant or lockdown in Springfield. Instead, local political, public health and church leaders held a press conference to encourage vaccinations, the Springfield News-Leader reported.

Parson noted that 55% of Missourians have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, although that only includes people 18 and older. In total, 45.4% of the general population started vaccination and 39.8% completed it.

The governor said that counting children in immunization numbers is what some of them will do to just give you lower numbers to make the situation look worse than it actually is.

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