ST. LOUIS — The Associated Industries of Missouri (AIMO) agrees with Gov. Mike Parson's reopening plan for the state.
The group's president Ray McCarty said its members are anxious to get back to work.
"We surveyed our membership on what they thought would be important when reopening and supplied that to the governor and it looks like many of those made it into his order," McCarty said in an interview with the St. Louis Record. "We are pleased. We think the governor has taken a very measured and balanced approach to both the closure and the reopening of businesses."
McCarty said the agency thinks it’s balancing the health needs with the economic needs of the state.
"In a perfect world we would never induce our economic coma that we have but we understand this is something we have to deal with to protect employees and customers," McCarty said. "It’s not business as usual when you have a pandemic at your doorstep. It requires extraordinary measures and we think the governor has done a good job balancing the health and economic needs of the state."
McCarty said AIMO is very supportive of the plan to reopen and believe it is good to do it in stages.
"I think he’s taking a good first step with his first phase," McCarty said.
McCarty said Parson also laid a framework out for the majority of the state and if local governments want to be stricter, they are able to do that.
"The governor has been very good about allowing local governments to do what they think is best for their regions," McCarty said. "They can still be as restrictive as they like to be in their own areas."
McCarty said any businesses allowed to reopen have guidelines, like no more than 10 people per table and that tables need to be spaced six feet apart. He said Parson also worked in fire code limitations for the numbers allowed in the buildings that are flexible based on the size of your business.
"We hope businesses will be able to get back to work and we’re able to revive the economy and come out of this induced coma," he said.