As COVID-19 cases skyrocketed across the country this fall, local governments across Missouri scrambled to do something, anything to slow the spread.
Outside major metro areas, mask mandates were the obvious choice for most places that had little appetite for more stringent measures such as stay-home orders. By November, more than half the state s population was required to wear a mask for a while.
Reports of new cases have since returned to summer levels and with spring on the horizon, some places are declaring themselves done with the rules.
Joplin, Washington, Clinton and Fulton all lifted their mandates over the past two weeks, and others could soon follow.