Stay-at-home order to start Monday in St. Louis

Saturday, March 21, 2020
Chairs sit upside-down on tables inside a restaurant shuttered as a result of the coronavirus outbreak Friday, March 20, 2020, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis and St. Louis County authorities are ordering a mandatory stay-at-home rule to begin Monday in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Mayor Lyda Krewson and County Executive Sam Page said the measure will allow people to go to grocery stores, pharmacies, doctors appointments, restaurants for carryout, to work for most businesses, and to exercise outside.

"The new restrictions, which will take effect Monday, will ensure that residents can meet their basic needs and that essential services will still be provided, " the mayor's office said in a news release posted on Twitter. "The new restrictions will require people to stay at home when possible."

Illinois, New York and California are implementing statewide stay-at-home orders, calling on residents to remain in their homes unless they have vital reasons to go out.

For most people, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.

Three Missourians have so far died from the virus and the number of confirmed cases of the illness nearly doubled from Thursday to Friday. The total number of confirmed cases in Missouri was at 73 by the state's count Saturday, up from 28 on Thursday.

St. Louis County officials said Friday that a woman in her 60s, who suffered from multiple health problems prior to being diagnosed with COVID-19, died at a hospital. Officials don't yet know if she had traveled or how she became exposed to the virus.

Also Friday, on the other side of the state, Jackson County officials said a woman in her 80s died. She had not recently traveled, raising concerns about community spread, which is when experts can't figure out how a person caught the disease.

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The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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