1/4/2021 10:16:00 AM 2020, part two: the pandemic continues
Carsen Nagel, 7, a first grader, foreground, and his older brother Caden, 11, a fifth grader, sat at the kitchen island in their Stewartville home as they prepared for distance learning, which began once again for all K-12 Stewartvile students on Wednesday, Dec. 2.
In August, workers had virtually finished the new amphitheater at Bear Cave Park, built to host concerts and other events. City employees who helped build the structure include, in back, from left, Jason Welter and Jake Burzinski. In front, from left, are Regan Lonien and Emily Fritsch, members of the Stewartville Area Community Foundation, which financed the project.
As omnipresent as it had been during the first half of the year, the coronivarius (COVID-19) pandemic remained on virtually all Stewartville residents' minds from July through December 2020. During those six months, the virus's continuing spread cancelled the traditional Stewartville High School commencement ceremony, forced school officials to modify their plans for starting school in September, moved the city and its Economic Development Authority to distribute federal dollars to local businesses hurt by the pandemic, and influenced school leaders to switch back to exclusive distance learning beginning on Wednesday, Dec. 2. Local residents' and leaders' reactions to the continuing spread of the pandemic was the Stewartville STAR's top story for the second half of 2020. Here, then, is a week-by-week recap of stories related to the pandemic, along with other major local stories from July through December 2020... For more on this story pick up your copy of the Jan. 5 Stewartville STAR.
