LIBERTY, Mo. (NewsNation Now) — Missouri plans to bring in hundreds of health care workers from other states to help provide care as already-stretched hospitals prepare for a possible increase in COVID-19 cases resulting from the Thanksgiving holiday.
Gov. Mike Parson and Herb Kuhn, president and CEO of the Missouri Hospital Association, announced Wednesday the state will partner with Vizient, a private national health care company, to recruit up to 760 more health care workers for Missouri.
Kuhn said the partnership comes as early data raised concerns about a possible significant increase in new COVID-19 cases because of Thanksgiving travel. He said data showed Missourians’ travel for recreation and retail increased an average of 40% daily from Nov. 23 to Thanksgiving Day.
“In the days and weeks ahead as these workers arrive, they will provide essential support to our hospitals and health care workers, those who have been on the front lines of care since March,” he said. “These extra skilled care givers are essential to address staff shortages that are presenting a critical threat to hospital capacity here in Missouri.”
Parson said the state will use federal stimulus money to pay for Vizient, a Texas-based company, to provide the care for at least the next 12 weeks. The cost will be paid by the state and hospital partners.
The workers will include registered nurses, respiratory therapists and certified nurse assistants. When fully deployed, the plan will add nearly 600 hospital beds to Missouri’s statewide bed capacity, Parson said.
Missouri has 312,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 4,000 reported deaths from the virus according to data complied by Johns Hopkins University.
As of Sunday — the latest data available — the state reported that 2,651 people were hospitalized in Missouri with COVID-19 and that only 27% of the state’s inpatient hospital beds were unoccupied.
“Staffing is one of the biggest challenges facing our hospitals right now,” Parson said. “The issue is not so much about physical beds or space. We have plenty of hospital beds available. The issue is that there aren’t enough doctors and nurses to staff these beds.”
Details of where the workers will come from and the cost of the program were not yet available.
Dr. Randall Williams, director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, said the state should receive 51,000 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine soon after a Dec. 10 meeting of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration vaccine advisory committee. Department spokeswoman Lisa Cox said Wednesday that roughly 105,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine are expected.
The state has chosen 10 sites around the state that could vaccinate about 35,000 health care workers and long-term care facility staff first, followed by residents of long-term care facilities, Williams said.
Those vaccinations are expected to be completed by the end of January. About 3 million “critical infrastructure” workers, such as first responders, teachers and workers at food manufacturing plants should be vaccinated by February, and the state expects to have the vaccine available to the general public by mid-April or early May, he said.
Even as cases rise, some health officials in Kansas City and St. Louis County are getting pushback after closing some bars and restaurants in recent days for violating coronavirus restrictions.
A Kansas City bar owner is asking a Jackson County court to issue a temporary restraining order to overturn a 10 p.m. curfew on bars and restaurants, which the city and Jackson County imposed two weeks ago as part of a series of restrictions to slow the spread of the virus. The bar is asking to be allowed to stay open until 3 a.m.
St. Louis County health inspectors on Tuesday shut down four businesses that they said violated a ban on indoor service at restaurants and bars. Kansas City health inspectors closed five businesses over Thanksgiving weekend — four for violating a 10 p.m. curfew and one for hosting a large gathering.
Opponents of the restrictions contend public officials, such as Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and St. Louis County Executive Sam Page, should not have unilateral authority to close or restrict businesses.
Lucas noted in a statement Tuesday that over 4,000 Missourians have died from COVID-19, including more than 1,000 in the Kansas City area.
“We stand by our responsible steps to keep people safe,” Lucas said. “Missouri courts have held consistently that our communities have the right to protect public health. We will continue to do so.”
The Associated Press and NewsNation affiliate KTVI contributed to this report.