COVID-19 update: Restaurant staff yearn for work; Kansas disaster request approved

Kansas City Star (MO)

Mar. 30--President Donald Trump has approved a federal disaster declaration for Kansas, it was announced Monday, as new cases of the new coronavirus emerged in Johnson County.

Meanwhile across the Kansas City area, restaurant workers yearned to go back on the job as stay-at-home orders kept them sidelined. And in Missouri, hospitals on the financial brink faced a double threat in the pandemic and Medicaid changes.

The White House announced Monday that Trump approved the disaster declaration on Sunday, which will allow federal funding to be available to the state government, along with tribal governments, local governments and certain nonprofit organizations "for emergency protective measures" for all areas affected by COVID-19.

The announcement came as a statewide stay-at-home-order issued by Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly went into effect early Monday.

Restaurant workers wanting to return to jobs

With metro-wide stay-at-home orders in effect, restaurants and retail businesses have shuttered their doors or scaled back their operations. Some briefly tried curbside carryout, but found they were losing money and shut down.

That has hurt workers like Jordan Fowler, 26, who worked as a barista at Black Dog Coffeehouse. Fowler is now out of work.

"Do I go out and get a job at a grocery store, which I know will be hiring, and then potentially come back and spread it to them?" said Fowler, who is finishing his semester at the University of Missouri-Kansas City online. "I don't want to rely on unemployment, but I also don't want to be spreading this to the people in my family who do have diseases that could seriously affect them."

Layoffs in the restaurant industry has largely hit hourly workers, said Bill Teel, president of the Greater Kansas City Chapter of the Missouri Restaurant Association.

Several restaurateurs he has spoken with have reported they had laid off as much as 80% or 90% of their staff. Most restaurants were trying to hang on to management while laying off hourly workers who could collect unemployment benefits.

Missouri hospitals worry about future

Missouri is one of five states where 40% or more of its rural hospitals are deemed vulnerable, according to an analysis by the Charits Center for Rural Health.

Add the specter of the spreading coronavirus pandemic and proposed changes to the state's Medicaid program, and some hospitals find themselves on the brink of financial ruin.

Randy Tobler, chief executive of Scotland County Hospital in northeast Missouri, says his Missouri hospital has until mid-May before it runs out of money -- that's the rosy projection, anyway.

And now he faces an extraordinary health crisis that may drain the hospital's resources.

"I'm watching people who are the most resilient people in the world beginning to crumble," Tobler said of his staff as they grapple with what's ahead.

New cases of COVID-19 reported in Johnson County

The number of people testing positive for the new coronavirus in Johnson County has increased by eight, bringing the county's total to at least 116 cases, according to statistics released Monday by local health officials.

Two people in the county have died from COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the Johnson County Board of Commissioners will vote Monday afternoon on spending $400,000 to purchase thousand of coronavirus tests to help overcome a statewide shortage.

The shortage means the Kansas health department is only testing Johnson County residents who need to be hospitalized. The limited testing, county health officials argue, makes sit more difficult to gain clear picture of how the virus is spreading in the community.

Support from the balconies

Residents of Oak Hall, a condominium just east of The Country Club Plaza, showed their support to health care workers combating the COVID-19 disease.

More than two dozen people went to their balconies for a five-minute demonstration, playing music and banking on pots and pans.

"It became actually cathartic for everybody to be able to scream and yell without getting in trouble," said Everett Murphy, who helped organized the demonstration of support.

___

Visit The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.) at www.kansascity.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.