Governor’s Saturday Briefing Focuses on Priority Testing

During his online news briefing regarding the COVID-19 pandemic Saturday, Governor Mike Parson opened by reassuring Missourians his administration is doing all they can in the face of this emergency.

Parson yielded most of the time to Director of Public Safety Sandy Karsten, who first talked about the shipments of personal protective equipment to health professionals statewide. Karsten also described priority testing for those working in public health.

Karsten said that this allows for those with symptoms testing negative for COVID-19 to recover from their symptoms and return to work sooner. During the question-and-answer session, Dr. Randall Williams, the Director of the Department of Health and Senior Services, was asked about the amount of discretion given to county health departments regarding priority testing.

As of 2 Saturday afternoon, there were 838 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Missouri, and 10 deaths. More than 12,000 people have been tested.