On Wednesday, the Missouri department of health reported over 30,000 new COVID-19 cases over the past week. The increase in cases had put a strain on local healthcare providers throughout Southwest Missouri, who issued a letter this week seeking help from local city and county governments. Freeman Dr. Robert McNab spoke today comparing the Joplin tornado in 2011 to the pandemic.

“Both really hit the community very hard and strained resources, but the major difference between those two disasters is this. The tornado didn’t hit anywhere else. We were able to transfer patients to higher levels of care. We were able to, garner resources from outside the community to make sure that people got their needs taken care of.” Late Wednesday, the Joplin city council announced that they would hold a special session tonight starting at 6 to address a possible mask ordinance. You can watch the meeting in the Joplin area on Channel 21, K G C S, or online, at the cities website, Joplinmo.org.