Jefferson County Health Department officials have agreed to file a motion to intervene in the Robinson vs. Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services lawsuit and stay a Nov. 22 ruling from Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green that strikes down public health officials’ abilities to issue health orders.
The Health Department Board of Trustees voted 4-0 today (Dec. 17) to have their attorney, Christi Coleman of the Sandberg Phoenix law firm, file the motion to intervene in the case, joining St. Louis and Jackson counties, which filed a motion on Dec. 13 to intervene in the case and stay Green’s judgment until DHSS has a chance to appeal the decision.
Board member Suzy Davis abstained from the vote, and board chairperson Dennis Diehl and board members Tim Pigg, Amber Henry and James Prater voted in favor of filing the motion.
In his ruling in Robinson vs. Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Green said local health department regulations are unconstitutional.
“Missouri’s local health authorities have grown accustomed to issuing edicts and coercing compliance,” he said in the judgement. “It is far past time for this unconstitutional conduct to stop.”
On Dec. 7, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt sent cease-and-desist letters to local health departments and school districts ordering them to stop enforcing mask mandates and quarantine orders, citing Green’s ruling which said the mitigation efforts violated the state constitution’s separation of power principles because they “place the creation of orders or laws, and enforcement of those laws, into the hands of an unelected official.”
Davis abstained from the Health Department board vote today after questioning what it will cost to intervene in the lawsuit.
“There is no reason whatsoever that Jefferson County needs to step into this,” she said. “It's going to run its course; it's going to do what it's going to do. We do not need to join into it in my opinion. We do not need to spend our peoples’ money, our tax money. We do not need to involve our attorney; we do not need to involve our director’s time and take her time away from her regular duties.”
Diehl disagreed.
“What the Attorney General is proposing is to prevent local health departments from performing the duties they have performed for, well the Jefferson County Health Department for example, for 70 years,” he said. “We are using the same approach to try to control and prevent COVID that we have with all communicable diseases – measles, tuberculosis, meningitis. All of those are things we deal with on a regular basis.”
Health Department Director Kelley Vollmar said she believes it is “extremely important” for the Health Department to intervene.
“While the intent may have been to restrict COVID measures, what happened out of that or what is being presented as the outcome of that ruling is that all communicable disease authorities have been taken away from health departments and or their abilities to do orders for protection,” she said. “That is extremely scary in a time where you're dealing with numerous emerging diseases, as well as just the regular everyday things we face.”
Diehl said COVID-19 is not a “political issue; it’s a health issue.”
“More people have died of COVID in the United States than died in the Civil War in half the time,” Diehl said. “To try to ignore this issue, to try to ignore other communicable diseases, to try to stop the good work that public health has done in the United States, in Missouri, in Jefferson County for years, is totally unacceptable.”
While Diehl was calling for the vote to file the motion, Davis at first ignored him and instead of voting argued about what Diehl had said, claiming it was false.
Diehl responded that Davis has spread “misinformation” and “lies” about the Health Department.
Davis, in turn, called Diehl a liar, and he responded that the two would “have it out.”
Coleman said Davis had to cast a vote or say she abstained.
“She is too busy lying to the public to vote,” Diehl said.
Davis eventually abstained from voting.
Vollmar said she hopes people understand that public health agencies want to ensure health and safety of the community.
“I find it difficult to believe that we still have individuals among our elected board who do not understand the basic components of public health and what our mission is to protect the community,” she said. “If there ever was a time for public health to stand up and to make a stand to protect our communities, this is your time.”
While the board was trying to adjourn the meeting, Davis continued arguing and repeatedly asked Coleman about how much it would cost the Health Department to intervene in the case.
In a phone interview after the meeting, Vollmar said the Health Department hasn’t received an estimate for the cost.
COVID update
The county has seen a total of 371 COVID-19-related deaths since the pandemic began, the Health Department reported.
The U.S. has seen more than 800,000 COVID-19 deaths, according to numerous news sources.
In 2020, a total of 176 COVID-19-related deaths were reported in Jefferson County, according to the Health Department. So far in 2021, a total of 195 deaths have been reported in the county.
“December has been a time of both personal and professional reflection regarding COVID deaths among our county residents,” Vollmar said. “During the 21 months Covid-19 has impacted our county, 371 residents lost their lives to the virus, including my mother.”
Her mother, Barbara Weston, died on Dec. 11, 2020, at age 78.
Both the U.S. and Jefferson County have had more COVID-19-related deaths in 2021 than 2020.
According to the CDC, approximately 375,000 COVID-19-related deaths were reported in 2020, and more than 424,800 deaths in 2021.
Jefferson County also has seen more COVID cases in 2021. Vollmar said a total of 16,175 cases were reported in 2020 and as of today, a total of 20,914 cases have been reported this year, for a total of 37,089 cases since the pandemic began.
Vollmar said she anticipates an increase in cases and deaths with the omicron variant spreading, and she encourages people to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
“The day after (Dec. 12, 2020) (my mother’s) passing, the Pfizer vaccine was authorized for emergency use in the United States,” she said. “The fact that we know the vaccine is proven to reduce both the severity of the illness and the potential for death makes our county vaccination series completion rate of 46.48 percent disheartening.”
Vollmar said she hopes people will think about protecting everyone in the community.
“I respect that many people feel they are very healthy and that COVID would not pose a significant effect to their health if they caught it,” she said. “That may be the case for that person, but it is not the case for everyone around them. I think back to all the things my mother did right. She stayed home, she wore a mask, she avoided crowds. What she couldn’t control was what others did. She was unintentionally exposed to COVID by a care provider. She died 20 days after her diagnosis.”
Vollmar said she also encourages people to wear a mask, practice good hand-washing and avoid crowds.
“As we walk into 2022, I encourage residents to expand their circle of responsibility one more layer outward in order to build a healthier community in the coming year,” she said.
