CLAYTON, Mo. — St. Louis County joined Jackson County on Monday in appealing a Cole County Circuit Court judge’s decision that they could not challenge his ruling striking health regulations aimed at controlling the spread of COVID-19.
The move comes days after Judge Daniel Green on Dec. 22 denied requests by the counties to reopen the case, in which he ruled Nov. 22 that state and local COVID-19 regulations were “null and void.”
The decision, in a 2020 lawsuit by a St. Louis-area resident, a restaurant and a church challenging health regulations like occupancy limits, had led to school districts dropping mask mandates and counties lifting health restrictions.
Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who defending the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services in the lawsuit, declined to appeal Green’s decision despite the agency’s urging, and sent schools and governments cease and desist letters demanding they lift health regulations.
County Executive Sam Page on Monday announced the appeal and said Green’s ruling “if allowed to stand, will gut public health departments and endanger the lives of thousands.”
Page said the decision created “confusion” that “led to some county public health departments abandoning their response to rising COVID cases, out of fear that the wrath of the state will descend up on them.”
“The action in Cole County was wholly in appropriate undermining the mission of public health, which is to help those most vulnerable: the poor, the uninsured, the underinsured; those who have been hit the hardest by the pandemic.
“Pulling away the safety net of 1,000s of Missourians was beyond the pale, and that’s why we continue to fight,” Page said.
Page said Schmitt was “ignoring his sworn duty to protect all the residents” for political gain.
Schmitt, a Republican, is running for the U.S. Senate on a platform that includes opposing health-related mandates for masks and vaccines.
“He is playing to an anti-vax crowd he believes will help him get into a higher office,” Page said.
Schmitt spokesman Chris Nuelle did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Health department officials in Jefferson, Cooper and Livingston counties had also sought to intervene in the case, saying Green’s November decision failed to identify how local health agencies were not complying with the law. It was unclear if the counties had also appealed Green’s Dec. 22 decision not to reopen the case.
Schmitt had argued in a court filing last week that the state constitution only allows his office to request an appeal of the case.
Page also said Monday the omicron variant had been confirmed to be present in the county as of Monday, following a record surge in new COVID-19 cases last week.
The county reported more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, a new daily case number not seen since November 2020.
As of Monday, about 661 county residents were being diagnosed with COVID-19 a day, Page said.
———
