The number of COVID-19 cases continues to increase in Joplin and the rise is happening in concert with more activities and society returning to normal. Joplin schools opened their doors for the academic year last Monday; it’s also been just over two weeks since an extension of the cities mask mandate was not approved by the city council a on 5 to 4 vote. That night, the city council did vote in favor of moving from phase 2 of the recovery and into step 4, which allowed gatherings of up to 250 people, from the previous limit of 50.

Over the past week, Joplin has added 37 confirmed cases of COVID-19, likely due to community spread. Joplin Mayor Ryan Stanely, “on the COVID side we are seeing our numbers increase. Our current case numbers that are active are 99 cases. Which is higher than we’ve seen at any time since we’ve been reporting our COVID numbers.” 176 people are quarantining in Joplin, and the number of COVID-19 related deaths has remained at 21, for now, more than a month.