On Tuesday, a Junior High teacher in Webb City lost her fight with Covid-19. KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.

Bryann Baird died early Tuesday morning at a hospital in Springfield. The Webb City school district released a statement on their Facebook yesterday page confirming Baird’s death. She was a 2007 graduate of Webb City High School and had taught at Webb City Junior High for the past 9 years. According to accounts on social media, Baird had been transferred to Springfield just a day earlier to be connected to an ECMO machine that normally assists patients after severe lung damages from infection or massive heart attacks. Baird is the 161st Jasper county resident to die of Covid-19.

According to AllThingsMissouri.org Jasper county has experienced an over 22% increase in the number of new Covid-19 cases in the past two-weeks. Walk-in vaccinations are available today and Friday at Mercy locations in Springfield and Joplin. Visit Mercy.net for more information. For KRPS, I’m Fred Fletcher-Fierro in Webb City