Nearly one year since the first COVID-19 case in Greene County, Springfield City Council began discussions of what comes next in the Road to Recovery.
With case counts trending downward, hospitalizations decreasing and vaccination rates increasing, the Springfield-Greene County Health Department is proposing what future phases of the city’s Road to Recovery plan could look like.
“We have reached a point where the end is in sight, where we can start to relax and breathe a sigh of relief—but while we’re close, we still have more of this race to run,” said Acting Director of Health Katie Towns. “We have to take steps cautiously so that we don’t ruin all that we have accomplished to keep our community safe and protect one another. We are nearing this finish line, but we will have to finish strong.”
The framework for deciding next steps is built off three key indicators:
- The rolling seven-day average of the COVID-19 case count
- The number of COVID-19-positive patients hospitalized
- The percentage of the Greene County population who has been fully vaccinated.
These indicators will be evaluated for 28-day timeframes, or two incubation periods.
The Health Department’s COVID-19 dashboard will be updated to include new dials, so that our community will be able to track where we are within the phases and the progress being made toward the next phase.
Currently, Springfield is in the red phase. Current restrictions include 50% occupancy limits, required masking and required physical distancing.
If the seven-day rolling average stays below 40 new cases per day and hospitalizations stay under 50 patients per day, the city will have the option to move into the yellow phase.
The yellow phase would remove occupancy restrictions except with mass gatherings of 500 or more people, would recommend physical distancing but would still require masking.
To move on to the green phase, which would remove all mandatory COVID-19 ordinance restrictions, the indicators would have to meet the following thresholds:
- A seven-day rolling average of fewer than 20 cases per day
- Under 20 people hospitalized with COVID-19
- At least 50% of Greene County residents 16 and over fully vaccinated.
This framework is built on recommendations from national experts, local advisors and the capacity we expect to have as a community going forward. This includes guidance from the White House Coronavirus Task Force, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and our local health care partners.