JEFFERSON CITY, MO -The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) activated a statewide public hotline for citizens or providers needing guidance regarding the novel corona-virus, or COVID-19. At 8 a.m. today, the hotline opened and can be reached at 877-435-8411. The hotline is being operated by medical professionals and is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
"Communication is vital to our response to this rapidly-evolving situation," said Dr. Randall Williams, director of DHSS. 

Below are links to the COVID Response and Rumor Control pages FEMA has set up to help improve COVID communications. Feel free to share with your partners and use in any of your messaging/responses. COVID-19 RESPONSE PAGE ENGLISH: https://www.fema.gov/coronavirus 
SPANISH: https://www.fema.gov/es/coronavirus 
RUMOR CONTROL PAGE: https://www.fema.gov/coronavirus-rumor-control 

We would like to ask the public to refrain from calling the Bates County Sheriff, Butler Police Department and other law enforcement agencys, regarding the COVID-19/Corona-virus Pandemic. Please check this website, or our Facebook page (Bates County MO Emergency Management Agency), or the local Bates County Health Center (Facebook – Bates County Health Center) page and the Centers for Disease Control (www.cdc.gov) for statistics and instructions on managing the current health crisis that is affecting everyone worldwide. Note – our office is not currently occupied 24/7, phone calls may not be answered right away.