The end of an era in Joplin on Monday, as the city held its last, scheduled Covid 19 press briefing. KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.

Early on in the pandemic, Joplin city officials held weekly briefings that were live-streamed on the cities Facebook page as a way to keep residents up to date with the latest active case and fatality counts. As fall 2020 came and turned into winter 2021, the briefing became a way to communicate the latest information about the forthcoming vaccines.

Joplin Mayor Ryan Stanley was asked Monday what his determining factors were when voting in favor of the city moving into Stage 3 of the city’s reopening plan last week. “We hit a low point right before spring break. And feeling like, ‘here comes spring break,’ who knows what’s going to happen with people traveling. And really wanted to see the numbers and what they did. And we saw the number lift just a hair. But not anything of great significance.” Joplin continues to lead Missouri in the percentage of residents initiating their first dose of a Covid 19 vaccine with nearly 40%.