Joplin reports eight more COVID-19 cases

The Joplin Health Department is reporting eight additional positive cases of COVID-19, bringing the total cases to 37 within the city of Joplin. Seven of the cases are adults with one youth case. All eight individuals reside in Joplin within Jasper County. (Note: these cases will be counted under Joplin on the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services website.)

To protect the patient’s right to privacy, identifying information will not be provided. As part of the regular practice of disease investigation, the Health Department will notify people who have had contact with the patients.

There is no known recent travel with the eight cases, and five of these appear to be community acquired. Three of the cases are contacts to a known positive case.

This includes a Joplin summer school student who tested positive. The Joplin School District continues to follow policies and procedures for summer school that were approved by the health department. Social distancing protocols and disinfecting measures continue to be in place. Additionally, deep cleaning will occur over the weekend.

This comes as the statewide restrictions are set to be lifted on Tuesday. Missouri Governor Mike Parson says the state will be “fully open for business.”

There have been a total of 15,585 cases in the state since the pandemic began in March with 872 reported deaths.