KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Businesses and religious institutions in Kansas City, Missouri, are no longer required to record information about patrons as part of the city’s “10-10-10” plan to reopen the economy.
On Monday, Mayor Quinton Lucas amended the requirement, which was intended in the event that contact tracing was needed following a coronavirus diagnosis.
The “10-10-10” plan allows businesses to open with a capacity of 10 percent of people. Smaller businesses will be allowed to have only 10 people inside, including employees. The third “10” had required that contact information be obtained for anyone who spent more than 10 minutes in an establishment.
“On all of the rules, we do have the final requirement which relates to contact tracing,” Lucas said. “That was that if you are a salon that keeps appointments, you should hang on to those. If you're a restaurant that keeps reservations, when you open in a few weeks, hang on to those, and something's been discussed a lot. If you're an event, a religious institution that has people check in and sign in all the time, you should keep those.”
The reasoning, according to Lucas, isn’t to “keep big lists,” but so that the organizations can contact people to make them aware of a coronavirus outbreak, should one occur.
“That's what it's all about,” Lucas said. “It's a voluntary requirement.”
He also said that if a person or entity is not comfortable taking down that information, the city understands.
“But at the same time, we think it's going to be important because we'll be living with COVID for some time and contact tracing and is one of the primary ways that we try to limit it,” Lucas said.
