KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Masks will be required in certain circumstances in Clay County beginning Sunday.
The Clay County Public Health Center announced Wednesday that it has extended and amended an emergency order, which keeps the county in Phase 2 of its reopening plan.
The 50% occupancy restriction will remain in place except for businesses that implement and adhere to a mandatory-mask policy.
If a business or organization ensures that all employees and visitors wear face coverings indoors when six feet of social-distancing cannot be maintained, the business may return to its full occupancy.
The extended and amended order takes effect Sunday and will remain in place through at least July 20.
Grocery stores, retail stores, public transportation and special events are among the locations and events covered by the order.
However, taverns, bars and pools must remain at 50% occupancy along with any business that refuses to require masks, which includes Youth sports for children ages 5 or younger also may resume, while full contact practices in stable groups of 25 or fewer also are permitted.
Stable groups means that the same 25 must participate in the workouts together on a daily basis without rotating in different people.
Large gatherings, including weddings and funerals, remain limited to 250 people or 50% of occupancy unless face coverings are required.
Visitors remain restricted from long-term care facilities in Clay County, where 15 of the 16 deaths reported outside Kansas City, Missouri, city limits have come from.
There have been 922 positive COVID-19 cases and 22 deaths in all of Clay County, including KCMO — according to the 41 Action News COVID-19 Tracker, which aggregates state and county reports.
Clay County’s positivity rate for PCR testing has been 7.57% during the pandemic with 43.5 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents outside KCMO, which is governed by a seprate health department.
KCMO, North Kansas City and Jackson County, which is south of Clay County, have announced mandatory-mask policies inside all public spaces.
Kansas has a similar mandatory-mask policy, which goes into effect Friday.
The original emergency order was issued June 15 around the time Missouri Gov. Mike Parson ended all state restrictions on building occupancy and group gatherings.
