KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As health, political and business leaders in the Kansas City region work on plans for reopening the local economy during the coming weeks, one thing has become clear — the response will be different depending on where you live.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced his plan Monday for reopening the state’s economy, which goes into effect May 4 and lifts most restrictions on business, including strict gathering limits and the stay-at-home order.
Officials in Clay County rolled back their stay-at-home order last week, bringing it in line with Parson’s plan for a May 4 reopening.
Cass County health officials made a similar announcement Tuesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas, whose city has a stay-at-home order through May 15, has said those plans "ain't the way” to get people in the Kansas City region back to work in a way that prioritizes health and safety as well as hard economic realities.
In Kansas, a task force in Johnson County charged with developing a plan to for its reopening and economic recovery grappled with how quickly they should recommend moving ahead on different phases and who should have the authority to make that call.
It’s a decidedly different approach than mid- to late March, when Core 4 leaders — KCMO and Jackson County in Missouri along with Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas — acted in concert to announce a since-extended stay-at-home order through April 24.
That spirit of cooperation has seemingly vanished with different jurisdictions laying out different plans — or no additional local plans — for what the next few weeks look like.
While Johnson County is planning a four-phase reopening, with some businesses opening at different stages roughly a month apart, Phase One of Parson’s recovery program, which goes into effect next week, broadly lifts restrictions on all businesses.
