COVID Update

The Christian County Health Department (CCHD) continues to follow The Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines. We have been working with the CDC Foundation, and they are contacting persons who are Christian County residents testing positive for COVID. It has been determined that to maintain our mission of pro-health, this process will continue in order to provide CDC information and recommendations to our community. The CCHD does not make laws or mandatory rules. Schools, businesses, organizations, and individuals make their own decisions on whether to follow the guidance that is provided. CCHD has NO control over whether the CDC guidance is followed or not. 

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On December 9, 2021, the CCHD gave notice to all schools within Christian County district that we would immediately cease notifying/contacting students or their families in any manner with regards to COVID issues as had previously been initiated in conjunction with the schools.  This was in response to the recent Cole County Court decision and the support/direction of the Missouri Attorney General. 

In a letter received on December 7, 2021, the Missouri Attorney General stated: “Under this judgement, all mask mandates, quarantine orders, and other public health orders that are based on any of the invalidated regulations or issued outside the protections of the Missouri Administrative Procedure Act are null and void.  You should stop enforcing and publicizing any such orders immediately.  Failure to follow the court’s judgment may result in enforcement action against you to remove orders the court has determined are unconstitutional and illegal.  We encourage you to take immediate action to remove all unconstitutional and illegal orders."

This is to brief you that the Christian County Health Department is forced to cease all COVID-19 related work at the current time.  This includes case investigations, contact tracing, quarantine orders and public announcements of current cases/deaths, etc.  While this is an immense worry for our agency, we have no other options but to follow the orders of the Missouri Attorney General at this time.  We are looking for additional guidance from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).

For our county residents that have been or will be diagnosed with COVID-19 and require quarantine, isolation or any other information, we recommend the following:

• For health questions, quarantine or isolation information please consult your healthcare provider for guidance.

• Visit the CDC website (www.cdc.gov) for information on protecting yourself, your household, school, workplace and community.

• For additional answers to questions pertaining to this state of affairs, please contact the DHSS COVID Hotline (877-435-8411) or the Missouri Attorney General’s Office (573-751-3321).

While our agency remains steadfast to protect the health of our county residents, it should be understood that this ruling greatly impacts how we will be able to go forward with ALL highly communicable diseases in our future.

The CCHD provides the community with the best information from the CDC and other renowned health organizations on various public health issues and initiatives.  CCHD has and will continue to be pro-health, pro-science and pro-vaccine.

The CCHD does not make laws or mandatory rules.  We only provide guidance.  Schools, businesses and other organizations make their own decisions on whether to follow the guidance that we provide.  CCHD has NO control over if our guidance is followed or not. 

The CCHD retains the right to make any changes we choose with our clinic, social media pages and other forms of public health outreach.