Today is the first day of the new school year for many students and teachers in Southwest Missouri as new COVID cases have leveled off from a spike ten days ago. KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.

According to data researcher, Mathew Hollowoy’s COVID-19 update posted early Saturday morning Missouri recorded nearly 4,300 new cases of the disease nearly two weeks ago. New cases dropped to about 2,000 last week before increasing to 3,500 on Friday. COVID patients continue to make up about 20% of all patients at Freeman Health System in Joplin. President and CEO Paula Baker speaking at a press conference last Friday. “Today we have 58 patients, 3 of whom are on a ventilator. This continues to be a very serious issue throughout the region and our local community. Sadly in the last two weeks here at Freeman have had 20 deaths from COVID, largely from the unvaccinated”. Joplin continues to lead Missouri in the number of residents receiving their initial dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at over 58.3% and completing their inoculations at 49.9%. For 89 9 KRPS, I’m Fred Fletcher-Fierro