St. Joseph Shelter in Place (3-22-20)

St. Joseph Shelter in Place (3-22-20)

Here in st.

Joseph ..

The city is preparing for stronger restrictions as the coronavirus tightens its grip on the country... in more than 24 hours a shelter- in-place ordiance will go into effect for st.

Joseph... city leaders urging people if you don't have to go out -- stay home.

Bill mccmurray declaring st.

Joseph in a state of emergency.

"we need to overreact at this point out of an abundance of caution to try and slow this thing down."the city issuing a shelter in place ordinance saturday night to try and slow the spread of covid19.

Although there are zero reported cases of coronavirus in st.

Joseph as of now... mayor mccmurray says positive cases in st.

Joseph are inevitable.

"we know we will have cases.

Dr. williams said as much during the last briefing from the governor, but instead of having an enormous mountain of cases which will overwhelm our system, we want to spread that out.

Bring that hill down and spread it out over time."

Unless residents need to leave their homes for groceries, supplies or medical treatment the public is strongly encouraged to stay inside.

As far as opinions goes, local residents are all across the board.

"i think it's a good idea so we can slow the curve of the virus, but it's only going to work if people do what "it's stupid, seriously we're not gonna die."

The chamber of commerce says the ordinance is going to significantly impact local business in town ultimately to the economy is going to be a lot more driven by how many work and for some smaller businesses the reality is they won't be around with."

Unless listed as one of the 19 businesses on the city's shelter in place ordinance, be prohibited from operating.

Leaving residents their fellow neighbors "i'm worried myself hairdresser and if i'm not working, i'm not making any money.

We live off our tips mostly."

The order takes it will stay in place until 11:59 pm on april 2nd.

The city has a call center set up to help answer any questions surrounding the coronavirus or the shelter-in- place... calls are answered monday through friday... from 8 a-m to 9 p-m.

The number -- 271-4613.