ST. LOUIS– St. Louis County Executive Sam Page is responding to a recently filed lawsuit over the county’s COVID restrictions.
“I am confident there is a solid legal foundation for all of our decisions,” said Page during a morning COVID briefing.
The Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed the lawsuit saying the restrictions put in place by Page Dr. Faisal Khan and the St. Louis County Department of Public Health were and are “arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable.”
“All of our decisions are made based on public health experts review of all data and research available which changes every day,” said Page.
The suit has eight counts against St. Louis County. Two of them are related to religious freedom, one alleges the county is in violation of freedom of assembly for “requiring government pre-approval for events,” another count alleges the newest COVID order is “vague and should be declared void,” and there are four counts that allege the county’s orders have been “arbitrary and capricious.”
Schmitt said his office sent a letter to Page three weeks ago “asking for an explanation and evidence justifying the County’s extreme restrictions on St. Louis County residents.”
This morning, Page said his department had a very short amount of time to respond to Schmitt’s inquiry.
Click here to read the letter.
“The county’s response was vague and unresponsive. Just several days later, the county rushed to amend their shut-down order in an apparent attempt to appease this office and avoid litigation. It has not,” Schmitt said.
Page said county officials will continue to make all decisions based on science, research and recommendations from the CDC.
