Gov. Laura Kelly Dismisses Rumor Of Plans For COVID-19 Lockdown On Kansas Businesses

From the Kansas Reflector:

By
Tim Carpenter - November 13, 2020

TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly voted with House and Senate legislative leaders Friday to extend the statewide disaster declaration applicable to COVID-19 and the Democratic governor renounced speculation raised by a GOP legislator there could be a plan to close businesses in a gambit to blunt the virus’ advance.

Renewal of the disaster declaration was a formality necessitated by the Legislature’s decision to limit the governor to 30-day extensions. This was the third such extension so far in 2020, and would sustain the declaration from Monday through Dec. 15. Kansas is experiencing exponential growth of COVID-19 in some areas of the state, and rural and urban hospital are reaching basic patient capacity.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported a record-high surge in known coronavirus cases Friday, with an increase of 6,282 cases since Wednesday for a 2020 total of 115,507. In the past three weeks, Kansas has documented an increase of 36,000 cases. Since Wednesday, KDHE documented 41 more deaths for a total of 1,256 and added 75 hospitalizations to move that total to 4,327.

House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican who has tangled with the governor on pandemic leadership issues, said he had been contacted by Kansans anxious rapid escalation in COVID-19 infection would precipitate a stay-at-home order or nonessential business lockdown. He said some Kansans didn’t grasp the distinction between the umbrella function of a disaster declaration and the series of specific executive orders issued by the governor during the pandemic.

“I would just like to ask you your intentions on business closures,” Hawkins said. “I’m sure you’re going to tell me the same thing you did last time, and I would accept that. Would you reassure the people out there that you’re not going to shut down businesses?”

Kelly said she made clear such action wasn’t on the agenda and her administration hadn’t discussed an executive order to restrain movement of people.

“Just so I can put an end to rumors, we have had absolutely no discussion, no thought of shutting down the state. I know there are a lot of rumors going on out there, lots of chatter going back and forth, but there is no basis for it. We are not having any of those kinds of conversations,” Kelly said.

Kelly said her administration was focused on rolling out a comprehensive testing strategy and with persuading more Kansans to take health consequences of the coronavirus to heart.

In March, GOP legislators accused the governor of overreacting to the pandemic and moved to limit Kelly’s authority to take action intended to curtail infection, hospitalization and death. Kelly issued a mask mandate in July that was rejected by 80 of the state’s 105 counties, but several counties have retroactively adopted a mask rule as the virus spiraled out of control.

The Democratic governor and GOP legislators on the State Finance Council had a contentious conference-call debate about allocation of the final slices of $1 billion in federal CARES Act funding that must be expended by the Dec. 31 deadline.

The governor relied on her authority to block a GOP-backed motion to use $15 million to pay for coronavirus testing expenses of businesses and communities, with the Kansas City and Wichita areas receiving half of the money.

Kelly also stopped a move by Republicans to sideline the governor’s SPARK task force that has for months guided use of federal coronavirus funding. That meant rejection of Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning’s proposal to place all remaining COVID-19 finance decisions in hands of the State Finance Council, which has a GOP majority.

“I’d like to keep it here so we can appropriate it as we want to, as this group wants to, and not the agencies,” Denning said.

The State Finance Council agreed to let SPARK reallocate $25 million in reserve funding and to deploy other unused federal aid to fight COVID-19. Much of the money could be used to bolster state agency operations, including payroll expenses for state public safety, health and corrections.

This revised spending plan included $1.5 million for a public-service campaign designed to convince people to help deter spread of COVID-19. The 10-week campaign is to be coordinated with the Kansas Hospital Association.

Cindy Samuelson, with the Kansas Hospital Association, said the objective was to “ignite a sense of unity” among the 3 million Kansans facing the pandemic. The message would be simple: Cooperation to curb the spread of the virus necessitates people adhere to public safety guidance, including wearing a mask, washing hands, social distancing and avoid big crowds. A goal is to convince people all must pitch in to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed, she said.

“We think that these measures will really provide an environment where Kansas businesses, schools and other services in our state can remain safely open,” Samuelson said. “Push hard, if we could for 10 weeks, through the end of January.”

The television, radio and online campaign tied to COVID-19 is supposed to begin by Thanksgiving, Samuelson said. It received bipartisan support from the State Finance Council.

House Speaker Ron Ryckman, R-Olathe, said the call for voluntary compliance with anti-coronavirus intervention strategies had a chance to succeed in a way that mandates were resisted by some Kansans. He said a collection of celebrities — he didn’t mention names — were lined up to help with a public awareness effort on COVID-19. In addition, Ryckman said organizations in Kansas could donate to the PSA drive.

“We’ve got to convince, educate the Kansas populus that we’ve got to mask up. We’ve got to avoid crowds. We need to not go into bars after 10 o’clock,” said Denning, the Overland Park senator. “We need to get those messages out.”

Hawkins, the House majority leader, said he was a fan of the public-service initiative given uncontrolled spread of the virus and the threat to the health system.

“I do believe that we’re seeing more and more people understand exactly how critical the situation we’re in,” he said. “When you have people from western Kansas, who are now seeing their friends and their loved ones come down with it, when they hadn’t before, it becomes real. It becomes real to everybody.”

The Kansas Reflector seeks to increase people's awareness of how decisions made by elected representatives and other public servants affect our day-to-day lives. We hope to empower and inspire greater participation in democracy throughout Kansas.