The city of Joplin has reached a new all-time high in the number of COVID 19 infections. K R P S’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.

On Saturday, the Joplin health department reported an additional 70 confirmed cases of COVID 19, bringing the total active number within the city limits to 416. In just the past week, the city has experienced an over 33 percent increase in the number of confirmed cases. Today the city will likely surpass over 3,000 confirmed cases of COVID 19 since the pandemic reached Missouri in early March. Last week Missouri Southern State University announced that the final two weeks of the semester would be exclusively online to help present the virus’s spread. Joplin residents between the ages of 20 and 29 comprise the largest number of positive COVID 19 cases in the city with 652. On Friday, the Joplin health department confirmed the two most recent deaths related to COVID 19 in the city. A 53-year-old woman and an 87-year old woman. The death total now stands at 50.