The Gasconade County Health Department released COVID-19 Advisory No. 1 Thursday afternoon.
According to the advisory, the health department "wants to prevent the spread of COVID-19 within (the) county while enabling essential services to continue," and is currently highly recommending that all individuals remain at home as much as possible to help decrease the spread of this infection.
The advisory outlines the following recommendations of physical distancing for individuals and businesses:
Stay at home or place of residence. All individuals currently living within Gasconade County are encouraged to stay at home or at their place of residence unless for essential activities, or to operate essential businesses and operations.
If individuals are using shared or outdoor spaces at their place of residence, it is recommended to adhere to physical distancing as much as possible.
Individuals experiencing homelessness are highly encouraged to obtain shelter. Those individuals whose residence is unsafe or becomes unsafe, such as victims of domestic violence, are urged to leave their home and stay at a safe alternative location.
Non-essential business and operations are highly recommended to close in Gasconade County. All businesses and operations within Gasconade County institute appropriate health and safety protections including social distance techniques (e.g., requiring people to be at least six (6) feet apart; reducing the number of employees, customers, or other people present; reducing face-to-face contact; using phone calls, virtual meetings, and drop-offs, curbside pick-ups rather than in-person contact). Non-essential business includes but is not limited to:
Golf Courses,
Barbers and Barber Establishments,
Cosmetologists, Hairdressers, Manicurists,
Concert Halls, defined as a public building for the performance of concert,
Gymnasiums,
Exercise Studios and Fitness Studios where specific gym equipment and other various types
of classes are offered for people of all ages and abilities,
Massage Therapists and Massage Businesses
Know the sign and symptoms of COVID-19 and what to do if staff become symptomatic at the worksite. Encourage employees to stay home and notify the workplace administrators when sick.
Implement physical distancing measures, that are not limited to but include increasing physical space between workers, staggering work schedule, and decreasing social contacts in the workplace.
Increase personal protective measures by ensuring hand hygiene supplies are available. Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces are least twice a day.
All restaurants and retail food establishments that normally prepare food for on-site consumption are highly recommended to only conduct pickup, drive-through or delivery services.
To the greatest extent feasible, all non-essential and essential businesses and operations should exercise physical distancing as much as possible. If open to the public, they should limit the number of people in their facility (including staff) to less than 10 and maintain social distancing of 6 feet apart.
Prohibited activities. All public intentional gatherings of more than 10 people in a single space or room is prohibited. This does not apply to gathering of a household or residence of individuals who reside at such residence.
Leaving the home. It is highly recommended that all individuals remain home as much as possible, only leaving their residence for essential travel to perform essential activities specifically related to health and safety, the procurement of necessary supplies and services, for outdoor activity, certain types of work and to care for others. When engaging in any outdoor activity, it is recommended that all individuals practice physical distancing.
Exemptions to Recommendations. All 911 call center employees, fire personnel, corrections personnel, healthcare employees, hazardous material responders from government or private sector, workers maintaining digital systems infrastructure supporting law enforcement and emergency service operations, first responders, emergency management personnel, emergency dispatchers, court personnel, law enforcement personnel; and people designated by the applicable governing authority are necessary in the performance of essential government functions are exempt from recommendations.
Essential Government Functions. This recommendation does not prohibit any individual from performing or accessing essential government functions.
Travel. It is recommended that individuals with recent travel to self-quarantine for 14 days. During that time, monitor for symptoms. If a traveler were to become symptomatic, please contact your provider.
