'We Need The State To Act': Missouri Hospital Workers Call On Parson To Issue Mask Mandate

Dozens of doctors and nurses from across Missouri have issued an urgent plea to Gov. Mike Parson: Issue a statewide mask mandate before it’s too late.

With thousands of new cases of COVID-19 being diagnosed each day and patients crowding into Missouri hospitals, some intensive care units are nearly full. But health care workers say the worst is yet to come, and they warn more lives will be lost without a coordinated statewide response.

Dr. Alex Garza, head of the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force, said Friday it has become “painfully obvious” that individual behavior alone is not enough to curb the spread of the coronavirus in Missouri.

“Let me be really, really clear on this: A statewide mask mandate is needed to save lives across the state,” Garza said, adding that the virus is now so widespread that it’s no longer effective to leave the decision up to individual counties and municipalities. “We need the state to act.”

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/health-science-environment/2020-11-13/we-need-the-state-to-act-missouri-hospital-workers-call-on-parson-to-issue-mask-mandate