No masks in Carthage

Face masks will NOT be mandated in Carthage. The city council Wednesday voted 6-4 against the ordinance. The council also voted down on moving Carthage back to Phase One of Missouri’s reopening plan.

Meanwhile, the city of Joplin is now reporting 165 cases of COVID-19 with two deaths. 62 of those cases are active and 7 people are currently hospitalized with the virus. This comes as Missouri now reporting nearly 22,000 total cases of the virus since the pandemic began with over 1,000 death, and that number could be on the rise in the area.The Joplin city council voted down a similar ordinance last week.