Lake of the Ozarks: Video Shows Packed Pool at Missouri Tourist Spot Despite COVID-19

Over Memorial Day weekend, many people took to the popular Missouri vacation spot, the Lake of the Ozarks. A video of a pool party is being widely shared online because it shows hundreds of people packed in a pool ignoring social distancing guidelines.

A video of the pool party posted by Good Morning Arizona anchor Scott Pasmore has over 5 million views just 12 hours after it was posted:

One Twitter user shared a Snapchat video of another packed pool and this one racked up over 2.4 million views:

Many Have Been Posting on Social Media About the Packed Pool Party & Sharing Other Photos & Videos

Many others have also shared their own photos and videos of pool parties in the Lake of the Ozarks. One video posted to Twitter had the caption “Things seem to be ‘back to normal’ in the Ozarks.”

One user wrote: “Lake of the Ozarks. This weekend. We are still in a #pandemic, correct?” Another user wrote: “As the U.S. death toll from COVID nears 100,000, this is how people spent Saturday at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.”

One user shared some photos of the crowds:

Missouri Has Been Rolling Out a Phased Approach to Reopening the State But Has Had Some Setbacks

Missouri Governor Mike Parson has been rolling out a phased plan to reopen the state. The first phase of this plan allows gyms and hotel swimming pools to reopen, provided that people obey social distancing guidelines and that sanitization measures are strictly followed. The first phase will be in place until the end of May, at which point it may be extended, restricted, or roll into the second phase of recovery.

According to the Missouri COVID-19 dashboard, the state has 11,752 lab-confirmed cases of the virus and 676 deaths. The state’s recovery has been making headlines in the last couple of days because of two hairstylists who worked while symptomatic, potentially exposing 140 clients to coronavirus.

On Friday, the Springfield-Greene County Health Department said that a hairstylist with Great Clips who tested positive was symptomatic for the virus at work, exposing 84 clients and seven colleagues to coronavirus. The hairstylist and clients were all wearing face coverings so the Health Department hoped that “no additional cases will result.”

The very next day, the Health Department announced that a second hairstylist at the same location tested positive for COVID-19. This hairstylist was also symptomatic, with “very mild symptoms but potentially infectious” while seeing 56 clients.

Director of Public Health Clay Goddard spoke about the first of the two incidents during a press conference. While he praised the salon for following the correct hygiene practices of mask wearing and for keeping detailed records of clients for contact tracing, he expressed his frustration with the situation.

He said that individuals should be as diligent as businesses, and pointed out that the hairstylist also went to the gym, Walmart and Dairy Queen. Goddard added, “I’ll be honest, I’m very frustrated to be up here today, and maybe even more so, I’m disappointed. I wish the same level of personal responsibility had been exercised in this case.”

He continued:

We can’t have many more of these. We can’t make this a regular habit or our capability as a community will be strained and we will have to reevaluate what things look like going forward. Each of us has to be thinking of the good of ourselves, our family and our community. We don’t want to move backward.

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