ST. LOUIS – According to the St. Louis Metropolitan Task Force social distancing is working but they believe the stay at home order should remain in place until at least mid-May.
Dr. Alex Garza the head of the task force said the number of cases is projected to peak in the St. Louis area on April 25. He said we have bent the curve of projected COVID-19 cases for the metro area but that doesn’t mean we can ease up on restrictions.
Since people have been taking preventative measures Garza said the health care system in St. Louis should be able to handle the peak.
He said when this started the number of cases in St. Louis was trending along the worst-case scenario line. Now we are seeing that we are getting away from that line, which is known as bending the curve.
Garza also said the task force expects around 71,000 people in the St. Louis area will have been infected by the end of April. That includes asymptomatic and mild cases that were never tested. That’s down from the first estimate of around 80,000.
There needs to be a clear and careful plan to lift restrictions. Garza said if there is not we could see a second and potentially deadlier wave of infections.
