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Adair County Health Department votes to end mask mandate on May 1
Kirksville Daily Express
The Adair County Health Department will end its mask mandate on May 1, following a unanimous vote during a special board of trustees meeting on Monday.
The board tabled a decision from its last regular meeting in late March, wanting to see what COVID-19 case totals looked like as students returned from spring break. With cases still remaining low in Adair County, with four active cases on Monday, the board agreed to end the mandate a few weeks later.
The board can revisit and bring the mandate back in the future if cases pick up again. Private businesses can still opt to require masks when entering.
Adair County Health Dept. announces quarantine changes as cases drop
Kirksville Daily Express
The Adair County Health Department provided an update for area COVID-19 cases, as well as a change to their quarantine policy on Wednesday.
The county had just two new cases of the virus reported on Wednesday, bringing the total number to 2,279. There are 43 active cases in the county. The new cases involve a 44-year-old male who lives with another confirmed case and an 88-year-old female who lives at a nursing home.
A previously reported 84-year-old male who was admitted to University Hospital in Columbia on Feb. 5 was discharged on Feb. 12 to a nursing home outside of Adair County.
2020 in review: How COVID-19 rose through the year
Kirksville Daily Express
The dominant story of 2020 is the ongoing pandemic from COVID-19.
Adair County reported its first case on March 21, a person who had recently returned to Kirksville from Chicago. As of writing in late December, more than 1,660 cases have been reported and seven county residents have died from the virus.
The economic impacts from the virus and that order saw unemployment rise in the area, just as it did across the country. Adair County had 4.5 percent unemployment in March, which increased to 7 percent in April. The county stayed around that rate for the summer, when there is usually more unemployment already.
It’s remarkable that we have it and are able to give it : COVID-19 vaccine arrives in Adair County
Lori Guffey is starting to see some light trickle out of a dark tunnel.
She, the clinic supervisor and communicable disease specialist at the Adair County Health Department, was one of many workers on hand Monday as the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine was distributed in Kirksville. Adair County was one of 10 in the state to receive doses and began administering them at the NEMO Fairgrounds.
The department received 975 doses last week and Jim LeBaron, administrator of ACHD, said about 940 people had signed up to get it as of Monday afternoon. The first doses are going to workers in health care and nursing homes, as well as first responders and teachers.