Springfield-Greene County Health Department quits posting potential COVID-19 exposures- "Any public location could be a source of exposure"

(From the Springfield-Greene County Health Department)

The Springfield-Greene County Health Department will be suspending the public notification of low-risk potential exposure locations, effective today.

This decision has come as a result of several factors.

On Thursday, a mandatory masking ordinance went into effect in Springfield. It is the position of the Health Department that this policy will help slow the spread of COVID-19 in our community.

Between Thursday, July 9 and Thursday, July 16, there were an additional 240 new cases of COVID-19 in our county. The volume and nature of those cases points to significant community spread of illness.

We have reached a point in this pandemic where any public location should be treated as if it could be a source of exposure. Masking is one of our best tools in this regard, as is practicing physical distancing, proper hand hygiene, and staying home when we are ill.

Contact tracing and quarantine of positive cases and close contacts will continue, and public notifications will continue to be made in cases of high-risk public exposures