Despite COVID-19 surge, Kelly to hold in-person state-of-the-state address Tuesday
When Gov. Laura Kelly delivered her virtual state-of-the-state address in 2021, Kansas was averaging 1,958 new cases of COVID-19 each day, according to New York Times data.
On Tuesday, as Kelly prepares to return to the traditional in-person address before the House and Senate, the daily average is 5,738. Just last week, she announced a new COVID-19 state of emergency in response to pleas for help from understaffed hospitals.
The in-person speech would seem to go against the advice of at least some of the very health professionals who sought the emergency declaration. In the University of Kansas health briefing Monday, doctors urged the public to wear masks, social distance and avoid large gatherings — even if they’re vaccinated.
“You still have that chance to spread to others. Right now there is such a high prevalence of disease and community spread that it is impacting all of us,” Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control at the University of Kansas Health System, said.
Nevertheless, the show is going on.
“Unlike last year, we have tools to fight this virus including a safe and effective vaccine that is widely available. Additionally, the guests invited by Governor Kelly will be socially distanced and required to wear masks,” Kelly spokesman Sam Coleman said in an email.
But while Kelly can require her staff and guests to wear masks, lawmakers will not be under the same injunction, House Speaker Ron Ryckman said Monday.
“It’s a personal responsibility, if someone wants to wear masks, if someone wants to be vaccinated,” Ryckman, an Olathe Republican, said.
House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer, a Wichita Democrat, said the decision to continue with the state-of-the-state in-person in the middle of a COVID surge sends mixed messages to Kansans.
“I’m concerned,” Sawyer said. “I think we should try to meet together as little as possible.”
Fewer than half the lawmakers in the Kansas House and Senate were wearing masks as the Legislature opened its annual session Monday. Though Democrats were more likely to be masked, the split was not entirely along party lines. Some Republicans wore them while some Democrats went without.
Though lawmakers will spend less time on the House and Senate floor than they do in normal years, and the option to attend committee meetings remotely will remain, Legislative sessions are going on as normal.
Regular COVID-19 testing will be available for those in the building but Ryckman and Senate President Ty Masterson both said they weren’t particularly concerned about an outbreak. Ryckman said he anticipated some lawmakers having to take days off if they became sick and encouraged everyone to be vaccinated and boosted.
Despite concerns voiced at the beginning of the 2021 Legislative session, Kansas avoided a documented COVID-19 outbreak last year.
“It doesn’t feel a whole lot different than we did coming in last year,” Masterson. “My hope is to have all the same availability of testing that we had last year this year and do our best to operate as close to normal as possible.”
Meanwhile lawmakers are preparing to fast-track a bill that would extend through at least March the regulatory changes Kelly issued by executive order last week to assist hospitals and nursing homes with staffing during the surge.
Without the measure, the changes will expire with Kansas’ state of emergency after 15 days.
“I would even consider doing it through next March because last time we thought COVID would be over in 2021 and here we are,” Masterson said.
In Missouri, the 2022 the General Assembly kicked off last week like past sessions – without mask rules or other precautions. The legislature lost days of work last year because of the virus, and Gov. Mike Parson was forced to hold his State of the State address in the smaller Senate chambers rather than the House ones during an outbreak.
This year, Missouri lawmakers have a packed agenda, with budget measures and Congressional redistricting likely to take up a significant amount of the legislature’s time in the first two months of the session.
House Democrats said last week that some lawmakers missed the beginning of session because they needed to quarantine. House Republicans said they were not tracking the number, with House Speaker Rob Vescovo, of Arnold, telling reporters the members could “police themselves” and would stay home if they were sick.
Last Thursday, Senate President Dave Schatz, a Sullivan Republican, said some Senate staff were “out right now experiencing some difficulties with COVID.”
“Is it a concern? Absolutely,” Schatz said. “We’ll have to adapt and do what we have to in order to be able to function … But we’re going to find a way to work. We got a lot of things that are very important issues. Time is of the essence.”
This story was originally published January 11, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Despite COVID-19 surge, Kelly to hold in-person state-of-the-state address Tuesday."
