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Parson, a Republican who has eschewed business closures and remote work during the two years of the pandemic, oversees a workforce that is now forced to take sick leave when they test positive, removing an incentive for asymptomatic employees to work from home rather than spread the deadly respiratory disease among their colleagues.

Statistics provided by Parson’s own personnel department show positive cases among state employees have jumped eightfold since his decision to alter policies for workers as part of a strategy to begin moving on from the ongoing pandemic.

On Dec. 31, the day before Parson allowed a state of emergency to expire, the governor’s Office of Administration tallied 31 positive cases. Four days later, the state reported 265 new cases among workers. For the next four days, through Jan. 7, the state reported more than 228 new cases each day.

Some of them are high-profile workers. Former Rep. Becky Ruth, R-Festus, who was recently appointed to head the Office of Child Advocate, wrote on Facebook Monday that she was hospitalized with neurological problems linked to COVID-19.

“I was taken by ambulance this afternoon to Mercy Jefferson. I’ve been dealing with COVID since Dec. 29. I’m having some neurological issues as a result, and they just told me I have COVID pneumonia,� Ruth wrote in a post first reported by .

On Tuesday, Ruth said the doctors planned to admit her for another night at the hospital.

There is no indication from the governor’s office that he plans to reinstate the state of emergency as the latest surge affects Missouri hospitals, which are struggling with the fresh influx of sick patients and an alarming number of hospital employees out of work because of the virus.

In a memo from the Office of Administration, which oversees personnel matters for the state, workers are urged to get vaccinated, but told that they can no longer work remotely without losing sick days.

“Team members who have tested positive for COVID-19 and do not currently fall under an approved distributed team should use their available leave until they are able to return to the workplace,� the memo says.

“We are also continuing to provide free voluntary COVID-19 and influenza testing for team members in the Jefferson City area,� OA spokesman Chris Moreland added.

The change in sick leave policy has likely resulted in people who are infected choosing to work, resulting in further spread, said Rep. , R-Wardsville, whose district includes thousands of state employees.

“I can tell you I’ve had numerous calls from people complaining about the situation,� Veit said Tuesday. “A lot of them indicate they could do their job at home.�

Veit urged Parson to review the policy, saying the numbers make it clear there is a problem.

“I assume they are aware of the problem,� Veit said.

The surge among state government workers is evident in the daily and weekly reports submitted by individual state agencies. After nearly snuffing out the disease at the Missouri Department of Mental Health, the number of workers and residents at multiple facilities has steadily increased.

As of Monday, there were more than 270 DMH workers with active cases, the agency reported.

The Missouri Department of Social Services, which operates juvenile detention facilities, also has seen steady increases in recent weeks following a summerlong slowdown in cases.

Among the youths at the Missouri Hills Youth Center in St. Louis, there are 10 active cases. A Kansas City detention center reported 22 cases Tuesday.

The Missouri Department of Corrections also has seen cases spike at some of its prisons.

As of Jan. 10, OA said there have been 48 state workers who died due to COVID-19 since the numbers began being tracked in March 2020.