'It’s going to come down to individual responsibilities' | Missouri Gov. Parson has no plans to implement statewide stay-at-home order

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — During his daily coronavirus response briefing, Gov. Mike Parson said he does not plan to implement a statewide stay-at-home order.

"It’s difficult to make a blanket policy for the state of Missouri," Parson said Monday. "It’s going to come down to individual responsibilities."

Parson said he plans to extend the state's social distancing guidelines, which went into effect March 23 and are due to expire Friday.

"We’re evaluating that daily," Parson said. "We’ll make a decision by the end of the week."

Currently, the guidelines state "every person in the State of Missouri shall avoid social gatherings of more than 10 people."

Two weeks ago, a group of hospital and civic leaders from St. Louis, Kansas City and Springfield wrote a letter to Parson, calling for "uniform social distancing" across the state.

Parson did say his administration is considering closing state parks because he heard people were not following social distancing procedures.

On Monday, Missouri surpassed 1,000 cases of COVID-19. More than one-third of those cases are in St. Louis County.

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