Missouri Gov. Mike Parson returned to his normal schedule this week, emerging from isolation after testing positive for the coronavirus to tout the state鈥檚 economic recovery on Wednesday.
Parson announced he would be releasing $133 million back into the state鈥檚 budget after the funds were originally withheld due to the state鈥檚 grim economic outlook as the coronavirus left thousands jobless.
鈥淲e are outpacing our projected budget forecast, and we are now in a position to release some of the funding that was restricted earlier this year,鈥� Parson said at his weekly press briefing. 鈥淲e are excited to be able to announce these funds today and will continue to evaluate our budget and spending as we move forward.鈥�
Nearly $95 million of that money is from the federal government, and $40 million is from the state鈥檚 general revenue fund. Parson said roughly $100 million will be allocated to support K-12 and higher education.
Parson said he is able to release these funds because of the confidence in the economy. He said Missouri is ranked 12th in the nation for job recovery after the virus and is rebounding better than expected.
鈥淢issouri recently scored the highest in the nation in the business condition index, which measures employer confidence in the economy over the next three to six months,鈥� Parson said.
While the governor emphasized the state鈥檚 economic recovery, Missouri also reached a new high for hospitalizations from the virus. This rate has steadily increased since early September, according to data from the Department of Health and Senior Services.
As of Tuesday, the seven was 1,176. The dashboard also shows that, in the past seven days, there have been nearly .
Parson continues to emphasize the importance of looking at all of the data associated with the coronavirus, saying believes well over 100,000 Missourians have recovered since receiving a positive test.
鈥淭hat doesn鈥檛 mean the underlying conditions aren鈥檛 there, which is another thing that鈥檚 very misleading,鈥� Parson said. 鈥淚f you have other diseases, those could still be there. I don鈥檛 have any doubt that well over 100,000 people have recovered from this virus in this state.鈥�
Both Parson and Dr. Randall Williams, the state health director, said the department is not able to include recoveries on the dashboard because the data doesn鈥檛 exist; it would be an estimate.
鈥淵ou鈥檝e seen reports of people that have longer symptoms,鈥� Williams said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 a majority by any means, it鈥檚 a minority. But I think those studies will be ongoing to see how many people continue to have, for instance, muscle aches or vertigo or fatigue.鈥�
Williams said health experts will continue to monitor how people recover from the virus.
