Five years after our move from California to the Missouri side of Kansas City, I thought the culture shock was behind me.  I did know and had told friends that the adjustment was felt here more than adapting to life in San Luis Potosi in central Mexico.  Until now though I hadn’t really grappled with the vast differences of life in the State of Missouri after thirty plus years in California.  The response of people in Missouri to the COVID pandemic, especially in the rural areas of the State, reflects a gulf in outlook and values much greater than I had heretofore realized.

According to a “WalletHub” study, there is now a greater risk of contracting the COVID -19 in Missouri than in any other state in the U.S.  Health facilities in the southern part of the State are now overwhelmed by the number of COVID infected patients.  The fire chief in Springfield, the largest town in southern Missouri, stated last week “This is a mass casualty event, happening in slow motion” and declared, “Our community is in crisis”.  Low vaccination rates particularly in southwestern Missouri are the major factor in the high death rates from COVID.  The CEO of the Springfield’s Greene County Health Department tweeted, “Likely all recent deaths were avoidable with vaccination, perhaps a few would have had cold like symptoms.”

Although health officials in the area continue to plead the case for vaccination, resistance is still high.  Head of Cox Health Services, which manages several hospitals in southwest Missouri, declared, “If you could see the exhaustion in the eyes of our nurses who keep zipping up body bags, we beg you.”  Taney County, with a Cox Hospital in Branson, ranked number 10 in the nation in new infections the week after the July 4 holiday.  Only one in four persons in the County has been vaccinated.

Resistance to vaccination accompanies resistance to mask wearing by many people in Missouri. The town of Nixa with 21,000 residents south of Springfield, will soon vote on whether to remove its mayor.  Infuriated by the mayor’s imposition of a mask wearing ordinance last October, citizens petitioned for the recall vote.  Missouri’s Governor Mike Parson who hails from southern Missouri has customarily made public appearances maskless and contends it is a “personal matter”.  But the alarming climb of the rate of COVID infections in his State has now led him to request federal assistance in combatting the virus.  His official bio still claims that “Missouri has outperformed projections for both COVID-19 and the economy and continues to meet each challenge head on”.

Surpassing the Governor’s influence on COVID response in southern Missouri has been the former President’s laissez-faire attitude on citizen protection.  There was no challenging of the 2020 presidential election results after Trump was backed by 57 % of Missouri voters.  His support in the southern part of the State was overwhelming.  Three counties in the south which are expected to see a tripling of COVID cases in coming weeks voted for the defeated incumbent by a 76%, 78% and 82% margin.

With multiple health care officials at the State and local levels emphasizing the spread of COVID in Missouri, the Governor has urged a calm response.   “I don’t think we need to be out there trying to scare people into taking a vaccine” Parson told reporters after a Kansas City press conference.  That statement followed his warning that the federal aid in Missouri’s anti-virus efforts should not include a door to door information campaign.  A White House official called the Governor’s description of the federal three-pronged plans a “mischaracterization”.

Political posturing in the Governor’s fulfilling his responsibilities is especially lamentable when so many poor nations are now pleading for access to the vaccine.  Due to the recent assassination of the country’s President, we in the U.S. now are aware there have been no COVID vaccination programs in Haiti.  As of mid May, the UN reported that less than 2% of the vaccinations in the world have been administered in Africa. Although widely available throughout the State of Missouri, less than 40% of the population has chosen to be vaccinated.