Missouri Gov. Mike Parson says most businesses will be able to open on May 4.
JEFFERSON CITY — Gov. Mike Parson said Wednesday most businesses would be able to reopen their doors when the state begins to loosen restrictions on movement early next month.
Until May 4, Parson said at his daily briefing, the current state stay-at-home order remained in effect. And he said Franklin County, where officials plan to loosen restrictions this weekend, is still be under the state order.
“We’re working on the policy and the guidelines for that, but I will tell you almost every business in the state of Missouri will be able to open their doors,” Parson said. “People will go back to work. There’ll be some guidelines we’ll have with that but the majority of them will be open.”
“Social distancing is going to be important,” Parson said.
“Franklin County has to make some of their own decisions,” Parson said, adding that county rules can be more stringent than state rules, but not less stringent.
“So, Franklin County’s still under the state order and they’ll have to follow those guidelines,” Parson said.
Missouri’s stay-at-home order gives local officials the ability to determine what are essential services, but still outlines other requirements such as limiting gatherings to 10 people and requiring six feet of separation between people.
Gov. Greg Abbott could make an announcement as soon as Friday about reopening a wide range of Texas businesses amid the coronavirus pandemic, including restaurants, hair salons and retail outlets.
During a series of radio interviews Wednesday, Abbott gave the most details yet about the highly anticipated announcement, which he has been previewing since he announced preliminary steps to reopen the economy last week. He initially advertised the next wave of steps as scheduled for Monday but made clear in some of the interviews that they could now come sooner.
Abbott stressed in the interviews that he is seeking approval from medical advisers on the business reopenings and that they will reopen under new standards to slow the spread of the coronavirus. He also suggested his announcement’s implementation could vary by county, depending on how prevalent the virus is in each place.
“We’re gonna be making an announcement opening so many different types of businesses, where you’re gonna be able to go to a hair salon, you’re gonna be able to go to any type of retail establishment you want to go to, different things like that, with a structure in place that will ensure that we slow the spread of the coronavirus,” Abbott told Lubbock radio host Chad Hasty, adding that businesses won’t be “fully opened, but … will be opened in strategic ways, in ways that are approved by doctors to make sure we contain the coronavirus.”