Joplin's COVID-19 indicators declining, health director says

Aug. 3—Joplin has had 341 new cases of COVID-19 in the past two weeks, but recent test results indicate there is a slight downward trend, the city health director said Monday night at a City Council meeting.

Ryan Talken said that while there were 118 active cases Monday compared with 114 when he last reported July 19, the positivity rate of those tested recently is 11.87% compared with 14.2% two weeks ago.

There were 99 residents who were inpatients Monday at Joplin hospitals, and of those, 19 are Joplin residents, Talken said.

Joplin now ranks 35th in the state for its seven-day case numbers compared with sixth in the state at the last meeting's report.

"We're starting to show signs of cases stabilizing," Talken said.

Joplin's vaccination rate is at 43.6% compared with a statewide rate of 41.4%.

The health director said there has been information about breakthrough cases occurring among some people who have been vaccinated. He said of the patients hospitalized here from July 1-28, 85% were unvaccinated and 12% vaccinated. The other 3% were partially vaccinated, meaning they had one shot of a two-shot vaccine.

"The breakthrough cases are generally less severe than the unvaccinated cases," Talken said.

Asked if he had any recommendations regarding action since the city has not closed out its Joplin Response and Recovery Plan to the pandemic, Talken said he encourages people to get vaccinated and to wear masks when they are indoors with a lot of people.

Zoning requests

In other action, the council voted to deny a special-use permit to operate a bed-and-breakfast in the Sunset Ridge subdivision. The request was made by Lauren Peterson of 3001 Sunset Drive. She has provided short-term rentals in a basement living area for about three years. It has generated neighborhood opposition.

There is a homeowners association in the neighborhood with a contract provision that residents are not to operate businesses in their homes but does not specifically mention overnight room rentals.

A former president of the association, Dan McCreary, told the council he did not want to speak against Peterson but generally speaking he believes cities should look at their codes and regulations regarding the growing number of bed-and-breakfast operations in residential areas. He said it is common for residents of a neighborhood to be opposed to those operations because of increases in traffic, trash and noise.

Peterson said she has never had an incident with those who rent her basement and that she has assigned parking in her driveway to keep guests from parking in the street near other homes.

A representative of the homeowners association said that a majority of those who answered a recent survey from the association did not want businesses operated in the neighborhood. The association board cannot change its covenants to reflect the will of the homeowners except during an annual meeting, and the next one won't be until next year.

He said the survey was not aimed at Peterson but at any type of home business.

City staff told the council that 30% of neighboring property owners had objected to the special-use permit being issued, which was enough to require a two-thirds majority of council votes to take action. The council voted 5-3 to deny the permit, with council members Chuck Copple, Christina Williams and Anthony Monteleone voting against the denial.

In another contested zoning request, a developer withdrew a request to rezone property located at the end of West Par Lane in the Twin Hills area from single-family residential to four-family residential for construction of townhouses. The proposal has generated opposition from several homeowners in the area of Twin Hills Drive.

After a recent hearing by the Planning and Zoning Commission, the commission voted to recommend denial of the request.

Several homeowners, including the president of the homeowners association in that neighborhood, spoke against the zoning change, saying that the construction of 14 houses and townhouses on the street would be too dense and create heavy traffic on the small lane leading into the area. The type of housing would be of less value than existing homes, he said.

An engineer representing the property owner said the plan was being withdrawn and that a new plat would be filed reducing the number of houses to be built.