Associated Press:Missouri governor declares `the COVID-19 crisis is over’

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© Provided by Associated Press Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announces that the state is switching to an endemic phase of handling COVID-19 during news conference on Wednesday, March 30, 2022, at the state Capitol in Jefferson City, Missouri. Parson declared that “the COVID-19 crisis is over” in Missouri. (AP Photo/David A. Lieb)

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Wednesday declared “the COVID-19 crisis is over,” announcing that the state will soon begin handling the coronavirus like influenza and other ongoing diseases that occasionally flare up.

Parson said the state will officially start treating the coronavirus as an endemic on Friday. One result is that the public will receive less frequent updates about the number of deaths, hospitalizations and cases attributed to COVID-19.

“The COVID-19 crisis is over in the state of Missouri, and we are moving on,” the Republican governor said at a Capitol news conference, a little over two years since the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020.

A disease generally is considered to have reached an endemic phase when the virus still exists in a community but becomes manageable as immunity builds.

California in February became the first state to announce a shift to an endemic approach. Some other states also have switched their approach to the virus.

Parson said COVID-19 transmissions in Missouri are at the lowest levels since March 2020 and hospitalizations have decreased by 86% since a mid-January peak. He said most Missourians likely have some protection against the virus either through prior infections or vaccinations.

“The virus is here to stay,” Parson said. “But Missourians have learned to live with COVID while living their normal lives.”

The changed approach means Missouri won’t conduct universal contract tracing and individual case investigations, and response strategies will be based on regional and community trends. The state’s COVID-19 website no longer will provide daily updates on vaccinations, testing and positivity rates and won’t show detailed county-level case data.

Acting state Health Director Paula Nickelson said data about COVID-19 cases will instead be updated weekly. She said the less intensive data reporting will allow public health employees to refocus on other tasks.

Nickelson preemptively rejected any suggestions that the state is moving too quickly to the endemic approach. She said Missouri can still “ramp back up and be flexible” when COVID-19 cases or hospitalizations rise. But she stressed that the state would not impose mandates to wear masks or get vaccinated.