According to a Missouri State Government statement, there will be "no limitations on social gatherings as long as necessary precautions are taken and six feet of distance can be maintained between individuals and/or families."
“Missouri Governor Brands Face Mask Use a Personal Choice.”
In other words, you don’t have to protect anyone else from possible COVID if you don’t want too to be bothered with a mask.
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Update: May 24, 2020, 06:09 GMT
USA
1,666,828 confirmed cases of COVID-19
98,683 American Deaths
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NOTE: "A hair stylist in Springfield, Missouri, exposed as many as 91 people at Great Clips to coronavirus after working at the salon for eight days while symptomatic", health officials said Friday. The exposed include 84 Great Clips customers and, potentially, seven coworkers. The director of the Springfield-Greene County Health Department warned Springfield residents - who also recently visited some of the same known, local locations as the stylist - to look for COVID-19 symptoms and isolate themselves if they develop." That included a Dairy Queen, a Walmart and a CVS pharmacy. The patient is believed to have contracted the virus while traveling in another part of Missouri.
Today (Saturday), a second Great Clips hair stylist in Springfield has also tested positive for COVID-19. The health department says 56 more clients were directly exposed by the second case. “These additional clients will be notified by the health officials and be offered testing.”
The day after Missouri’s 28 day long stay-at-home order expired on May 3rd, all businesses in the state were allowed to re-open. That included hair & nail salons and massage parlors. So technically, the hair dresser had a "right to work". As for how many additional places with human contacts (beyond the salon) the clients of these two hair dressers also went, who knows??? Like the first hair dresser, the second hair dresser moved freely around the community while carrying the virus. Clients of these two hair dressers may also now have the virus and potentially be passing it on without knowing it. At this point, the result of reopening this Missouri hair salon has been: two known positive cases of COVID-19, at least 147 people directly exposed to coronavirus at the hair salon; plus an unknown situation beyond that out in the community as a whole. Not a very good result from re-opening the hair salon.
During the past 14 days, COVID-19 cases in Missouri have gone up 7.3%. The state has now been “re-open” for 19 days…
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Our across-the-street neighbors had a sizable party today with at least 50-60 guests: from babies to very old senior citizens. No one wore a mask. Food, drink, & hugs were freely exchanged. People wandered between indoors & outdoors. So everyone was exposed to everyone else. Not a hint of “social distancing”. Guess they all must have been one big family who arrived in a bunch of different cars. Whatever. The scene still amazed me during a pandemic.
I noticed the party only because I was out front doing some wildlife photography in my own yard. When my hubby puttered past on the lawn mower, I took the above photo of him & also got a few of the “overflow” party crowd in the background… Thank goodness there was a street (wide, enough for two cars to pass) between him & those party guests who chose to socialize (for some unknown reason) at the edge of the street. This particular smaller group changed individuals; as all seemed to be going in & out of the house. Memorial Day weekend is normally considered the start of Summer in the USA. Obviously, some seem to think it also means the pandemic is over.
I was surprised to see so many vulnerable elderly people at this large party or whatever it was.
Because he was alone in our own yard - and the street is probably 24 feet wide - my hubby also is not wearing a mask in the photo. In public, he does. At home, he doesn't. We haven’t had any company in our home during this time of pandemic. We also live on acreage. Nevertheless, Fed Ex did make a surprise, quickie, front porch delivery in the midst of everything happening this afternoon. That delivery person did not come near either one of us. Thank goodness!!! He was not wearing a mask…
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