North County Was Back On Track for Events

In 2021; Latest Virus Spike Could Slow Pace

By Bob Lindsey

As we go into the third year of COVID conditions, the virus is still the biggest factor in many of our lives as we continue to learn about Omnicron and how it affects us individually, and as a nation. Like it was in most communities in the U.S. the COVID virus was the top story in North County in 2021.

This week the Department of Public Health issued an emergency public health emergency advisory because of the dramatic rise in COVID-19 infections in St. Louis area.

For weeks, County Executive Dr. Sam Page has been warning of the rise of the Omicron variant, and of the need for our community to implement a masking requirement for public spaces. As of Dec. 31, his requests that the County Council pass a countywide masking requirement come up short by one or two votes.

         County Council Votes to Bring Back Mask Mandates

Councilwoman Lisa Clancy hafd said she will move for the Council to fast track a mask requirement and on Tuesday, a bill was passed by a 4-3 vote to bring the mask mandate back starting this week at all indoor public events. This bring back the mandate previously issued for St. Louis County , but had to be lifted when the council was split with two Democrats voting with the three Republicans. Dr. Page has previously requested that the Council ratify a Health Department Order requiring masks.

Dr. Page said the council masking order is “the most appropriate and reasonable response to the current emergency.,”

This past week was the largest single-day rise in cases in the history of the pandemic – both here in our region, and in the state of Missouri. The St. Louis Pandemic Task Force also announced the largest single-day COVID hospital admissions in the history of the pandemic.

Prior to this surge, the news has been somewhat encouraging the past two weeks with new CVC guidelines of 5 days quarantine instead of 10 days. However, the COVID numbers are similar to early in 2021 and are setting new records for infections almost daily.

Another concern was a Dec. 20^th testing of community “ sewershed “ samples for the Omicron variant . Seven locations were found in St. Louis County including Coldwater Creek, Bissell Point and the Missouri River that had the Omicron variant

“Our robust program for monitoring COVID-19 through “sewershed” sampling provides us with reliable information regarding the presence of the virus and its variants,” said Donald Kauerauf, Department of Health and Senior Services director. “The existence of the Omicron variant is becoming much more prevalent each week, making the actions of COVID-19 individual testing, vaccination and other mitigation measures more important as we already face the threat of the Delta variant and an increase in flu cases.”

St. Louis County is the highest vaccinated county in Missouri – 67.6% of St. Louis County residents have at least initiated vaccination, and 59.6% have completed vaccination as Dec. 31.

DHSS continues to recommend that residents follow prevention strategies such as wearing a mask in public indoor settings, frequent handwashing and maintaining physical distance from others. Prior to Jan. 1, 2020, it seems like a majority of people in St. Louis County are following most of the DHSS recommendations even though not mandated after a Cole County Judge ruled last month that health departments can’t issue mandates, only legislators can

2021: The year of COVID 19 in North County

We thought we would take a look at our print and electronic issues of The Independent News in 2021 for all the highs and lows of the virus story in North County and how our residents have responded .

Our first issues in January 2021 had a front page article on St. Louis County receiving vaccines from the Missouri DPH and putting phases and categories in place . St. Louis County Department of Health began administering the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines in North County on Jan 8 with 975 doses with health care workers getting the first shots. Live-in long-term facilities were next in line.

Our first issue in February featured the first facility to open to administer the shots to the general public which was at Florissant Valley Community College and by appointment only. The demand for the shots quickly surpassed the supply of vaccines. St. Louis County seemed well equipped to provide the vaccine at four area hospitals and other sites such as UMSL but the supplies from the state DHSS were slow at first.,

In late February, we ran a story about people who couldn’t get appointments locally looking for “a shot in the arm” out of town and driving to places like Hannibal, Potosi and Salem, MO. In that Feb, 25 issue we reported on first major local event cancellation. It was the community’s largest event, the Valley of Flowers events and the parade. Other Spring events were also cancelled or delayed . In May, Florissant did hold a queen crowning and runner-up for the Valley of Flowers.

The area’s first mass vaccination clinic was held Feb. 20 at UMSL. Two weeks later, the Missouri National Guard hosted a mass vaccination event at the North County Recreation Complex offering the new Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Now there were three companies offering the vaccines. The county DPH and area local first districts and police brought the vaccines to residents and staffs of group homes.

In mid-March, St. Louis County eased restrictions allowing more businesses to stay open until midnight, indoor gatherings were limited to 30 people. Indoor venues could operate at 25% capacity and outdoor events at 50% with socially distance rules. Guidelines changed several times throughout the summer, yet Florissant was able to hold many summer events such as the annual Fireworks Display and Concerts Under the Stars at St. Ferdinand Park.

The Powerplex , located at the site of the former St. Louis Mall, for the second straight year held live concerts and drive-in style movies on the parking lot. By Fall, the county started to see more easing of restrictions and the mask or unmask debates got heated at times.

Florissant’s annual Fall Festival the first Sunday in October was back after missing in 2020. The crowd was what you would expect each year at the city’s popular Fall

Festival even with some of the more popular events missing or curtailed. A month earlier Florissant hosted the Polish Falcons Festival and on Oct. 2-3 the Hispanic Festival was back. Both events had big turnouts with people throughout the region attending these popular festivals featuring ethic foods, folklore and music. Masks were rare as folks seem to be feeling more assured that the worst of the virus was behind us. The Independent News covered all these events this year as we have in past years.

A few weeks after Old Town Partners held its first and very well attended Halloween Parade in Old Town., the business coalition started planning for their Christmas events and held a successful Miracle on Saint Francois holiday event on Nov. 28 that included a Christmas parade.

The city’s Veterans’s Day parade was back as local veterans and groups like VFW Post and American Legion saw a nice turnout for the parade honoring our veterans from all eras. In September VFW Post 4105 held an impressive 20-year remembrance at the post home on rue St. Francois for those who lost their lives on 9-11.   A late fall resulted in glorious color foliage in early November, some fall colors hanging around until Thanksgiving, which was a more normal holiday this year. The annual community free Thanksgiving dinner sponsor by 10 local churches returned at St. Ferdinand Church with full take out meals.

As the Christmas events unfolded in December, the mask dispute evolved as area school districts still required masking for students even after the Missouri Attorney General sent a letter to the district superintendents and health officials saying to discontinue mask mandates and quarantine orders, in response to the Nov. 22 Cole County judge’s order.

Dr. Sam Page tweeted that (as reported in mid-December ) the county Dept. of Public Health had to rescind the county’s face covering mandate. Now it has been revived

Starting Christmas week, cases of COVID, especially with the spiking Omicron variant , have hit the same number of infected people as the country had in January of 2020 and hospitalizations are also what they were a year ago nationwide.

Sporting events were packed mostly mask free, but holiday shows were held with masks requirements indoors from the Fabulous Fox Theater to the Florissant Civic Center shows.

What looms for the new year as local schools are back in session and the debate to mask or unmask continues. As of Monday, both Ferguson-Florissant and Hazelwood were still requiring masks for students in the classroom.

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