Memorial Day weekend pool party in Ozarks draws national attention

Sara Karnes, Springfield News-Leader
Updated ·2 min read

In a 16-second video clip, dozens are seen in swim wear, eating and, overall, looking like they're having a good time at a pool party in Lake of the Ozarks on Memorial Day weekend.

No one appears to be social distancing or wearing face masks, and, in this time of coronavirus, that's grabbed national attention.

The video was posted to Twitter by Scott Pasmore, an Arizona anchor for KTVK-3TV, with the caption: "No covid concerns at the lake of the ozarks." It had 4.4 million views as of Sunday morning.

Many have responded to the video with concern, while others cheer on the fact that people are out.

"It screws it up for the rest of us who are taking this pandemic seriously...their negligent behavior affects us ALL," one Twitter user commented.

"Great to see this," another wrote. "The lockdown was the single worst public policy decision in the history of our country."

More than 96,000 people have died from the virus in the United States, more than a quarter of the 341,000 deaths worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University data dashboard. There are more than 5.3 million confirmed cases around the globe, and 1.6 million in the United States alone.

On Friday and Saturday, Springfield officials said that two local hairstylists tested positive for coronavirus. Together, they had served 140 customers.

The announcement came just days after city officials announced plans to relax even more distancing requirements and about a week after the health department started seeing an influx of new infections related to travel.

Health department director Clay Goddard said local health care and public health agencies still had enough capacity to pinpoint the origin of infections and potential spread.

But that might not be the case if they continue to have potential large exposures.

"I'm going to be honest with you. We can't have many more of these," he said during a press briefing Friday. "We can't make this a regular habit or our capability as a community will be strained and we will have to re-evaluate what things look like going forward."

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Memorial Day weekend pool party in Ozarks draws national attention