Missouri Health Care for All has launched https://missouricovidaction.org/, a new website to shine a spotlight on the many harms our state’s poor management of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused and to demand a new path forward.
“From Day 1, Governor Parson and the Missouri legislature have abdicated their responsibility to lead Missouri through this public health crisis,” says Jen Bersdale, Executive Director of Missouri Health Care for All. “The repercussions have been deep and wide-reaching: Suffering and death from the virus itself, as well as Missourians working in unsafe situations, children out of school, and the exacerbation of underlying health conditions.”
The website features stories of Missourians who have been impacted personally by the state’s failed approach to COVID-19: People who have been infected, people who have lost loved ones, parents whose children are suffering out of school, health care workers seeing the many impacts of the pandemic.
Since the start of the pandemic, Missouri has had an estimated 166,300 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 2,684 deaths. These numbers, as well as positivity rates and hospitalization numbers, are rising rapidly, with no real state-level effort to respond.
Central to the website is a proposed Turnaround Agenda for Missouri – a set of policies that policy experts agree would change the status quo and put Missouri on a more sustainable path.
“Eight months into the pandemic, we have never seen a comprehensive plan from Governor Parson or the General Assembly, and we have seen the results unfolding before our eyes,” says Bersdale. “We hope that our agenda can provide a road map for state leaders interested in slowing the devastation in our state.”
Governor Parson has called a special session to begin on November 5, citing the need to consider a supplemental budget in response to COVID-19.
Bersdale says, “Missouri has a long list of actions it could take to protect our citizens during what many expect to be the hardest part of the pandemic yet. Governor Parson and the General Assembly have failed at every turn to do what our state needs. We urge them to use this special session to finally do what is right for Missourians, rather than engage in further partisan games with our lives and well-being.”
Missouri Health Care for All plans to send the Turnaround Agenda to lawmakers in advance of the November 5 special session.
