Local health departments in Missouri halt 'all COVID-19 work' after court ruling, AG letter

Multiple local health departments in rural Missouri have halted most or all of their COVID-19 tracking and prevention work after Attorney General Eric Schmitt ordered agencies to comply with a recent court ruling this week.

Those departments' decisions follow the lead of Laclede County, whose health authorities said Thursday it would discontinue contact tracing, case investigations and its quarantine policy. Schmitt sent letters to local health agencies this week ordering that they repeal mask mandates, isolation and quarantine require"and other public health orders."

McDonald County, in the far corner of southwest Missouri, said Thursday it had "ceased all COVID-19 orders," including isolation and quarantine policies.

COVID-19 health orders: Laclede County stops 'all' activity to fight COVID after Missouri AG letter

"While this is a huge concern for our agency, we have no other option but to follow the orders of the Missouri Attorney General at this time," the department wrote. "We are awaiting additional direction from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, but have no timeline or expectations that this ruling will be changed.

"While our agency remains determined to protect the health of our county residents, it should be understood that this ruling greatly affects how we will be able to proceed and stop the spread of COVID."

The department has "talked to other health (departments) and several lawyers" and is also unable to isolate residents for other infectious diseases, it told people commenting on its Facebook post.

Laclede County wrote in a Friday Facebook post that its staff will "continue to track positive cases, deaths and statistical data for our county."

"While this action will change what our local community has become accustomed to seeing in our posts and work done, 'internally' our work has changed very little," the department wrote.

Other Missouri health departments, school districts respond to Attorney General's letter

Several other county health departments released almost identical language in their announcements Thursday. Dunklin, Stoddard, Pemiscott and New Madrid counties, all in southeast Missouri, said they were "ceasing all COVID-19 related work."

The stoppages in COVID work stem from a ruling last month by a Cole County circuit judge, who said local health authorities did not have the power to impose COVID-19 public health orders. It rendered certain Missouri regulations, including language on notifying people exposed to the virus and providing information for residents to respond, null and void.

Schmitt, a Republican running for U.S. Senate who has been vocally opposed to COVID-19 mandates and health orders, responded to the ruling with letters to local departments and school districts. Several districts, including Springfield Public Schools, rejected Schmitt's order, saying they would not immediately repeal their mask mandates.

Rural Missouri has been hit hard by COVID-19 throughout the pandemic, and saw some of the most significant surges during the Delta variant last summer that was most prominently first seen in southwest Missouri. Positive case rates and hospitalizations throughout the state are ticking upward with cold weather and flu season underway.

More: Greene County COVID-19 vaccine tracker: 47% of people fully vaccinated

Galen Bacharier covers Missouri politics & government for the News-Leader. Contact him at gbacharier@news-leader.com, (573) 219-7440 or on Twitter @galenbacharier.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Some MO health agencies stop COVID work after Attorney General letter