Nathan Papes
/ AP
In Springfield, Mo., firefighters are giving vaccine shots. Churches are scrambling
to schedule vaccine clinics. Students and staff at summer school at the public schools are back to wearing masks.
Dozens of traveling nurses are due to arrive at one of the city's two biggest hospitals over the coming weeks; extra ventilators from around Missouri and Arkansas were transported to the other major hospital after it ran short over the July Fourth weekend.
The outbreak of COVID-19 in southwest Missouri and northern Arkansas has become the nation's largest and is mostly driven by the highly contagious delta variant. Officials warn it could continue to grow unchecked if vaccination rates stay low.