Joplin to stay in step two of phase two of reopening plan
The city will also purchase $64k in masks
The Joplin City Council has voted unanimously to keep the city in Step two of Phase two of the city’s reopening plan amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Mayor Ryan Stanley says this means businesses must keep their capacity to 50% or less of their building’s fire code. He says this means if you are working in a restaurant or bar or providing personal services and cannot maintain social distancing, you should be masked up. “It is a rule, it is a part of the ordinance,” Stanley adds that social gatherings should still be limited.
Click here to see the details of the reopening plan
Stanley says with so many people from different parts of the four-state area coming to Joplin, they are continually looking at numbers of cases from surrounding areas. “If it’s in the area and it’s their problem, then it becomes Joplin’s problem immediately.”
He says there are four practices we must do to stop the virus: Social distance, hand-washing, not touching your face, and wearing a mask in public if you are willing.
The city also voted to spend $64,500 for masks that citizens can wear. That equates to about 50,000 reusable cotton masks. Council members hope this will be covered by money from the federal government’s CARES Act.
The city is also going to discuss a face mask ordinance once again. It got voted down 5-4 last month.
The city now reporting 211 total cases of the virus since the pandemic started in mid-March. Nine deaths have been reported. All of those from the Spring River Christian Village. The state of Missouri reporting nearly 24,000 total cases of COVID-19 with 1,028 deaths from the virus.
The city’s health department says we continue to see a rise in cases not only in the city of Joplin but in Jasper County as a whole. The city’s positivity rate for cases is around 9.75%. In May, that was around 1.21%. The age range most affected for COVID-19 cases is 20-39.