Pettis County Health Center ‘Closed … Until Further Notice’

The Pettis County Health Center will be closed for routine public health services until further notice, it was noted in a press release on Sunday evening.

Community members with appointments should call the health center at (660) 827-1130 and they will return your call as soon as they can.

Anyone with a WIC appointment should call (660) 827-4599.

“We hope to continue WIC services.   We regret any problems this may cause our community and hope to be able to return to caring for our community soon,” said JoAnn Martin, MSN, RN, CPNP, Administrator Pettis County Health Center, 911 E. 16th Street.

And in a press release sent Sunday night and dated Monday, the Pettis County Health center announced that a lawsuit brought against the health center, alleging damages due to the Center's Face Covering Rule, had been dismissed.

“The attorney for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the Pettis County Health Center regarding harm from the Face Covering Rule dismissed the lawsuit against the Health Center at 2:59 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6. No explanation was provided as to why the lawsuit was dropped.

“The Health Center is relieved that tens of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money will no longer be required to defend the actions of the Board of Trustees and the County Health Officer to protect the health of the community. Regardless of anyone’s belief about the importance of a face covering in slowing the spread of Coronavirus, state law and regulations require that public health authorities protect the community from communicable diseases State law does not provide exceptions to these requirements.

“As a community we may disagree on the best approach to meeting the requirements to protect the health of the community, but we need to work together to reduce the impact of COVID 19 on this community. The Board of Trustees and the County Health Officer utilized the best available information from the CDC, the White House Coronavirus Task Force and the research literature in developing the face covering rule.

“Until there is another alternative, the strategies we have available to reduce the spread of the virus include face coverings, hand washing, staying six-feet apart, avoiding crowds and staying home when ill or quarantined.

“We recognize there has been significant personal and economic impact as we deal with COVID 19. We believe when everyone follows the face covering rule and other protective measures we will see a decrease in cases and a return to a more normal way of life,” the press release concluded.