This is a news four Corona virus update. Good afternoon everyone. I'm Claire Kellen, Missouri Governor Mike Parson is just about to begin his daily briefing via Facebook. We're taking you there live to Jefferson City at this time. As we approach May the fourth, I want Missourians to feel confident that we are in a good place and ready to move forward before essential pillars of our show. Me strong recovery plan are a big part of this and we have met each of these pillars and have full confidence that Missouri is prepared and ready to safely reopen. one of the four pillars is hospital capacity and I want to. What I said yesterday, our hospitals are not overwhelmed with the exception of the Saint Louis region every region across the state has shown a significant decrease in Covid- 19 hospitalization. We will continue to monitor our hospital capacity as we move forward, but Missouri has a excellent health care system and I assure you there are hospitals are prepared. Another pillar of our recovery plan is testing capacity between the state Health lab and at least 15 private labs and participating health care institutions Approximately 50000 tests could be performed each week. There are now more than 125 sample collection site located throughout the state and Mobile outreach is now available to reach people who may not be able to get to a testing site. DA. Has expanded it's testing criteria so more people can be tested and rapid point of care testing devices have been deployed throughout the state. We have also shifted to an aggressive boxing approach with testing this strategy will allow positive patients to be identified and isolated as soon as possible to prevent the virus from spreading further in the community and We are now utilizing community sampling to specific counties This involves testing both systematic and a systematic people to potentially identify individuals who unknowingly have Colvin 19 and isolate them before they spread the virus. In addition to testing and hospital capacity, expanding Missouri's PE reserves is another essential pillar of the show Me recovery and we are in a good place with this pillar as well last week, the Department of Economic Development partnered with Google and Watch the Google Marketplace to connect our health care providers with manufacturers and suppliers that produce. PE Missouri has received National recognition on the use of this new tool, which will be a huge asset moving forward Last week. Vice President Pence recognized Missouri's use of the Google marketplace during the White House Covid-, 19 briefing and just this morning rear Admiral John Belichick, leader of the Corona Virus Supply Chain Stabilization Task Force, called to learn more about Missouri's PE market. As a potential best practice for other States again, I want Missouri's to feel safe and confident to reengage in the economy and social activity. We're exactly where we need to be with our four pillars to reopen and I am thankful for my administration, our many partners and stakeholders across the state and all Missourians for helping us to get. To this point, with that said, we have a few other directors that are here today to talk more about their departments as we move forward to reopen Missouri, we know there will be lots of questions and concerns regarding unemployment. so first, I will turn it over to director Hugh for an update on the Department of Labor's Tractor. You have just been listening to Missouri Governor Mike Parson on the latest on the state's fight against Covid- 19 by KMOV counted at this point, more than 7500 confirmed cases of Corona virus in Missouri. And 333 deaths you can continue watching the governor's briefing right now in the KMOV Facebook page KMOV dot com as well as the KMOV News app, a lot of options for that and ahead at 330 this afternoon, you can watch the Saint Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force briefing dollars Last week. Missouri was one of the first States in the nation to process pandemic Unemployment assistant program claims not only do we take the claims in, but we've already processed. Thousands of eligible claimants APU a weekly benefit as well as the $600 federal supplement. This was accomplished while setting up remote work for over two thirds of our agency training over 100 additional state staff from our Department of Labor as well as other state agencies to support the unemployment program, as well as contracting and training third party vendor staff and preparing to hire 50 to a hundred more temporary staff for additional support just to. I do with some context normally at this time of year we process about 20 - 300 to 3000 unemployment initial claims a week in the last five weeks. We've had two historically high weeks where we have processed well over a hundred thousand initial unemployment claims we continue to prioritize the phone lines for individuals who have difficulties accessing our online resources our efforts to be responsive to the thousands of calls were receiving will continue To direct call. To specific messaging for program information and updates if you're calling about a issue on your specific claim, we continue to ask for your patience and understanding as we do our best to get to as many calls as possible if you're on hold and offered the callback function. This selection will keep your spot in line and the system will call you back when it is your turn. so please select that option. If you want to be called back, you do not have to remain. On hold for members of the public who have access to the Internet, please continue to do these things first log in to you Interact dot Labor dot MO dot Gov for the latest status of your claim and weekly payment if your claim status is protest pending period if no eligibility issues come up during that time frame, the payment will begin processing after the 10 day test period The S. It is resetting your own password by answering the security questions online that you selected when you register for your new interactive account, Please try that first before calling with each of our calls that we're taking, we have codes that our agents indicate what the call was about and why or what was resolved during that call. and so from those codes, we know that those are the top two questions that are asked that can be dealt with. Online In addition, just a reminder child support payments existing non fraud, overpayment and taxes for those who have selected to have taxes withheld reduces both the $600 payment as well as any weekly unemployment claims. claims are also reminded to take extreme care to provide accurate information when you're entering it online typos wrong dates incorrect answers to questions and other data entry errors during the initial claims. US will cause delays for eligible claimants and again more than 90 percent of Missouri's unemployment claims have been filed online and without any assistance from the Department. It's all on our you interact dot Labor dot Mo dot Gov website, and we continue to implement more options there to assist claimants with their questions just a few clarifications about the federal unemployment programs. Anyone who is self. Floyd and who wishes to file for pandemic unemployment assistance PUA, must first file for regular unemployment benefits and be determined ineligible The step is necessary because PUA is a brand new program that the existing system was not designed to address but once a self-employed claimant's information is in the system they can file immediately for PU a pandemic unemployment assistance if they fall into one of the 11 eligibility requirements. Some examples of those 11 categories include being sick with Covid-, 19 caring for someone in your household Who's sick with Covid- 19 and being the primary caregiver for school-aged children when schools are having students stay at home. The full list of 11 categories can be found on FAQ Page Labor dot MO dot Gov Forward slash Corona virus under FAQ number eight. One of these categories must still exist at the time of your weekly request in order to receive payment for that week, while individuals can provide self certification of the supporting category, the US DOL and particularly it''s Office of Inspector General, have directed States to notify remind and enforce the policy that misrepresentation for the purposes of obtaining any kind of unemployment benefit is considered fraud. And we will be subject to prosecution penalties and repayment US DOL has made it clear that general fear of Covid-, 19 will not support continuation of unemployment benefits under both the regular unemployment insurance program and the PUA program, therefore, if an employer provides the employees suitable work to return and the employee chooses not to return to work, then unemployment benefits will cease if an. Individual files for PUA it no longer falls under one of the 11 eligibility criteria under the carrier, then the individual cannot file for weekly benefits under PUA in terms of guidance about workplace safety, the show me strong Recovery Plan page has the April 20 -seventh DHS health order with details about physical distancing as well as the CDC guidelines for workplace physical distancing in. The information we have on our webpage and then the FAQs, In addition, local stay at home orders have included criteria for essential businesses and their operations, and those would still guide local businesses in the recall of employees to work. the Department of Labors also working on a portal for employers to submit information on employees who refused to return to work. We'll be announcing that shortly in terms of when the portal will be live and instructions on how employers can use that and finally the. Pandemic Emergency unemployment compensation program, PUC, is scheduled to be operational tomorrow morning Thursday, April thirtieth. The program provides up to an additional 13 weeks of benefits for individuals who have already exhausted their unemployment claims if they were already filing a request for payment, they should continue to do so all individuals who have previously exhausted their benefits in the past year will be notified by email or mail with instructions on how. Log back into you you interact and to file under P E U C that communication will be dependent on what the individual has selected when they registered their account. However, there's no need for for individuals to wait for receipt of that communication. they can come back and log into you interact tomorrow morning and look into the correspondents folder for instructions on how to file Thank you very much. That's my update for today. Thank you very much. Thank you for what you and your team are doing needless to say this is never been happen for and I'm not here to make excuses for anyone but I can tell you one thing I talked to governors all across the United States on a weekly basis. Most all of the state unemployment systems went down within the first few days of what took place and I'm so proud of our director of what that team over there has been able to do to provide those services. We still got work to do. We know there's people on hold for long periods of time, but we're working on that every day to. It better and we will continue to do that to make sure that people get those unemployment checks as soon as we can get them to them. So again, I wanna thank the director and her team for what they've been doing. Also. a lot of questions are gonna be coming up at the state parks. one of the things that we're really want people to do is get out and get active and not wear a better place to do it in our state parks here in Missouri and today Director Comey's here with us to give us an update on the state parks in the future. Good afternoon while the vast majority of Missouri's state parks and historic sites have remained open for day use throughout the entire covid- 19 crisis, the Department of Natural Resources implemented a number of measures designed to protect our visitors and team members. Those measures included cancelling our tours and programs closing visitor centers and playgrounds and suspending camping and overnight lodging today. However, thanks to the governor's leadership, I'm here to announce a. Approach to resuming normal operations at Missouri State Parks This approach will help ensure visitors can enjoy Missouri's natural and cultural resources by minimizing overcrowding at Missouri State parks and historic sites. In addition, this approach will allow our state parks team the time to restore necessary services and prepare measures designed to allow proper physical distancing. Between May fourth and May fifteenth, lodging, dining, marinas and retail stores operated by our concessions, will reopen services and locations will continue to be limited. so we encourage you to visit our website for further information on each individual Park site on May eleventh Castlewood State Park Elephant Rocks State Park Watkins will and Mill and Weston Bend State Park will reopen for day use only parking will be strictly. Limited in some trails may be closed to ensure proper social distancing is maintained. On May eighteenth, the Off-road vehicle riding area at Saint Joe State Park will reopen with a limited number of one day permits available permits must be purchased online and in advance. Park Park campground sorry and are more primitive Park Run lodging will continue to be suspended through May eighteenth at that time, we will evaluate when to reopen those facilities based on the available health information Similarly, visitor centers tours programs and close shelters, playgrounds, pools and beaches remain closed as we monitor the initial stages take to resume operations. We ask the patients of our guests as we balance providing recreational opportunities with maintaining a safe environment for our visitors and staff. You had to a Park. I encourage you to check Most state parks dot com for individual Park advisories and the actions and response to the covid- 19 pandemic we will continue to monitor crowds and visitation closely in order to prevent overcrowding if a Park is nearing capacity, Gates or parking lots may close temporarily if you're planning to visit a state Park, We encourage you to choose a Park close to your home and as always whether you're inside or outside, I can't express enough the. The following the guidance provided by CDC and Governor Parson keeps six feet between you and others avoid crowded areas in groups of people stay close to home and travel only with those in your household. wash your hands often come prepared, Carry hand, sanitizers wipes and water wash your hands often. Share the trail and warn other trail units of your presence as you pass avoid touching your face. Avoid handshakes or hugs cover your mouth and nose with your elbow when you cough or sneeze pack out what you brought in be kind and considerate of others, and most importantly, please stay home if you're sick while safety, outdoor recreation and service to our visitors are all very important to us. the safety of our guests and our team members remain our top priority. Thank you. Thank you. Carol Thank you for what you're doing with the state parks. Let me just remind everybody. We wanna open up the state parks. We're really proud of them here in the state that we get to showcase them and it's a great place to take the family and for activities outdoors. But again, I will stress that we are in phase one of what we're doing in social. This is the key to it. So I ask you my brother the rules. when you go there. We wanna keep them open but it's gonna take all of us to take that self responsibility to make sure that you do take that upon yourself to abide by the rules so we can keep them open for everybody. I think there's gonna be an opportunity. For our entire state to be able to showcase our state a little bit more cuz I'm not sure how many people are gonna be wanting to travel outside the state. so it'll be a great opportunity to visit some sites here in the state and help our small business local businesses across the state. so again, Thank you Director Comey for what you do in your Department does as we move into the recovery phase of Colvin 19, We must continue to prioritize not only the physical health of Missouri, but also mental health and today Director Stringer here to give us an update on the Department of Mental Health. Director Stringer you Thank Governor. First of all, I want to express my sincere sympathy to the Missouri families that have lost loved ones to this virus. Please know that you'll remain in our thoughts and in our prayers. Second, I wanna thank the many Department of mental health staff at all levels and in all settings that are performed spectacular during this crisis, including the dedicated men and women who work in our state psychiatric hospitals, rehabilitation centers and state operated community programs. I cannot tell you how much we appreciate your ongoing commitment to serving some of the States. Most vulnerable citizens, especially during this very difficult time. I also want to acknowledge my Department's contracted community providers of treatment prevention, recovery and rehabilitation services. They are working hard to serve Missouri's with substantial challenges while at the same time dealing with their own challenges in terms of staffing lost revenue and extra expenses for things like PE, let me give you some examples of the work that they're doing in our communities the state's community. Health centers and substance use treatment providers serve over a hundred and 30000 people each year when the crisis started the entire community system pivoted in a matter of days to a virtual health telehealth model of care to help individuals and their families dealing with those conditions. Stay safe Stay well in their homes and importantly out of the hospital in addition to caring for their own patients and clients, they're also providing mental health services to front line workers and other parts of the. Care system, helping them with virtual services and special phone lines. I was particularly glad to learn that because we're all concerned about our front line health care workers in the world of developmental disability services, our providers support over 15000 people in the community in a variety of settings because of that support, our individuals have an opportunity to lead meaningful productive lives outside of institutions. We've heard stories statewide of direct care staff who left their homes and To temporarily move in with the individuals that they support in order to reduce the number of people in and out of the homes and protect their individuals from exposure, many of our providers have invested in computers and tablets to keep people connected with families during this time when they can't be together and they're working hard to move people with developmental disabilities out of long term hospital stays and into appropriate community settings in order to alleviate stress on the health care system and go. Our providers specifically asked me to thank you, Director Richardson and other of my colleagues on the Cabinet for moving so quickly with steps that allowed them to continue serving their communities and keeping their people safe during this crisis now to all Missourians many people who will be returning to work next week will understandably be nervous about it. There's nothing wrong with that, but I can assure you the proper precautions and common sense. make a huge difference in how and where the virus appears. Let me give you just one example. One of our long-standing community providers with 70000 mental health and physical health patients across the state, along with 2700 staff has not had one death due to covid- 19 and is unaware of even a single hospitalization and important reason for that is that the first action in every clinical visits since mid March has been coveted, screening, education and prevention. Finally, for those of you who may have trouble coping with anxiety about returning to work, I wanna mention once again. The federal Disaster Distress helpline, which has which was created for times like this. It's staff with mental health professionals who can talk with you and if you need more help and they can provide connect you with services right here in Missouri, their services are free and confidential. The Disaster Distress Helpline has a website, which is easily found with a search engine like Google or you can call eight hundred 98 59. I'm sorry. Eight hundred 98, 59 zero. Thank you. thank you for watching you you are doing what you have done what you will do ah and I was specially thank those employees ah it's remarkable with the state employees have done during this time to go to work everyday and tough situations where it's correction office was mil health was public safety was department of labour almost all the departments but the people in the mile situations that people that they will come to work everyday and take care of people that can take care of the cells and understand A job most people don't wanna do my hat's off to those people for doing what they've done for sacrificing for others putting their care of those individuals before their selves and their own family in some cases. So I really appreciate what they did. I just so many people stepped up. We get closer to Monday, Missourians maybe feeling many different emotions. Some people are excited. Others are nervous and unsure no matter what you're feeling. I want to assure you that we have prepared for this and we will continue to do everything we can to keep Missouri and safe. However, I will say this again, Colvin, 19, is still out there. And at the end of the day, it comes down it comes down to looking out for each other and taking responsibility for our own actions for our recovery plan to succeed. We must all continue to be proactive while adapting to these new challenges use common sense. social distance, Protect yourself and the others around you. If we can do this, we will be. Thank you and God bless I also today. There's a couple other directors back here. Director Carsons back here and director Williams is back here. If you have questions for them, the one thing I would ask for several directors here today. so if we can bring them up if you can all kinda ask your questions towards this director, we would appreciate that very much or so the time is yours. Our governor can you hear me? Okay? Yes. do you do you anticipate daily reports of new covid- 19 cases to increase after your orders and if they do? Increase Will you take responsibility for that? well? Let me go back to what I've said all along. I don't think you can look at it on a daily basis. We I keep saying that over and over, but the reality of it is because you have a- one spike day on those that could be simply a lab. You know, dumping that material in again and we talked about that many times. If we see a trend that we're we're all of a sudden, we're escalating back up. We're gonna reevaluate the situation and say it's that simple. but right now, I think we have the tools and the place I'm confident that we're on the downward. Viral for the majority of the state and I believe Saint Louis assure that plateau for better terms looking over the edge and it's it's remarkable what they've done. so we're gonna be ready for that. We'll we'll be watching all the data every day like I have been for months.