St. Charles County is the third most populous county in the state after St. Louis County and Jackson County, which includes parts of Kansas City. With a population of more than 400,000 people, St. Charles County has more people than the city of St. Louis.

Parson has said local leaders may keep stricter rules in place, and both St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson and and St. Louis County Executive Sam Page have extended stay-home orders indefinitely.

In Jefferson County, County Executive Dennis Gannon also announced Tuesday that his county would be following the governor's reopening plan.

St. Charles County Executive Ehlmann issued his executive order on March 23 requiring residents to remain home except to go to work or to engage in activities they deem "necessary to their physical, mental or spiritual well-being," but Ehlmann emphasized Tuesday, the orders never shut down businesses.

“I left it up to residents and businesses to determine what was essential,” he said in a statement. “And both did a great job at doing so. Our local retail stores and other places of public accommodation communicated social distancing requirements to customers and that has helped us to limit the spread of COVID-19 enough that I feel we are ready to take the next step the Governor has recommended.”

As of Tuesday morning, St. Charles County had 572 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 32 deaths. Nearly half the county's deaths are connected to an outbreak at the Frontier Health & Rehabilitation nursing home where at least 60 residents and 12 staff members have been infected. At least 15 residents at the nursing home with the virus have died.

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