The Iowa Department of Public Health announced on Friday the highly contagious Omicron variant of COVID-19 had been confirmed in seven counties, including Johnson and Linn. According to an IDPH spokesperson, not all the people who tested positive for Omicron had traveled recently or been in close contact with those who had, so it is […]
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
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With COVID cases hitting ‘high’ mark, face masks are now required in Johnson County municipal buildings
Johnson County now requires anyone entering a county-owned building to wear a face mask in response to the surge in new COVID-19 cases in Iowa caused by the highly contagious Delta variant. The county joins Linn County, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Coralville and North Liberty, which had already enacted mask mandates for their municipal buildings. […]
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Coralville and North Liberty will require face masks in city buildings
Coralville and North Liberty are joining Iowa City and Cedar Rapids in requiring everyone entering city-owned buildings to wear face masks, regardless of their vaccination status. The requirements will take effect Wednesday, the two cities announced in written statements on Tuesday. Because of the rapid spread of the highly infectious Delta variant, the CDC updated […]
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Iowa City is requiring face masks in city buildings again, as COVID-19 rates rise in Johnson County
Face masks will be required in all city-owned buildings in Iowa City starting on Friday, regardless of visitors’ vaccination status. “The decision to require that masks be worn in City facilities was made for the health and safety of visitors to public facilities and for the staff who serve them,” the city said in a […]
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Gov. Reynolds scorns CDC guidance as ‘not grounded in reality,’ blames immigrants for rising COVID infections
The CDC issued new COVID-19 guidance on Wednesday, modifying its previous announcement regarding mask-wearing. Because of lagging vaccination rates in parts of the country, and the rapid spread of the virus’s Delta variant, the agency said it was now recommending that even fully vaccinated people wear masks indoors in public areas with “high” or “substantial” […]
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Iowa City and Coralville lift their mask mandates
Iowa City and Coralville announced on Tuesday an end to their city-wide mask mandates. In written statements, both cities cited the revised guidance issued by the CDC last week stating that people who are fully vaccinated no longer need to wear masks or engage in social distancing even while indoors to mitigate the spread of […]
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IDPH tells vaccine sites to temporarily stop using J&J one-shot vaccine after CDC and FDA advise ‘pause’ for safety review
The Iowa Department of Public Health has advised all vaccine administrators in the state to temporary cease using the one-shot Johnson & Johnson following a joint statement on Tuesday morning from the CDC and FDA calling for “a pause in the use of this vaccine.” The CDC and FDA called for the pause in response […]
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Gov. Reynolds assesses her pandemic performance ahead of Iowa’s COVID anniversary
Gov. Kim Reynolds began her news conference on Wednesday by noting that “almost 23 percent of eligible Iowans age 18 and up, and almost 70 percent — 69.5 — of older Iowans, age 65 and above, have received at least their first dose” of COVID-19 vaccine. The governor said she expects the rate of vaccination […]
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Gov. Reynolds eliminates Iowa’s few significant COVID restrictions
Gov. Kim Reynolds is eliminating the state’s few remaining significant COVID-19 restrictions, even though the Iowa Department of Public Health confirmed earlier this week that a more contagious variant of the virus is circulating in the state. On Sunday, the state’s limited mask mandate will end, and the restrictions on the size of gatherings and […]
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Biden administration teaming up with pharmacies to get vaccines to underserved populations
The Biden administration announced a new partnership between the federal government and retail pharmacies on Tuesday, which will provide vaccines directly to selected pharmacies. This is a different program than the one that has been used to vaccinate residents and workers at long-term care facilities, and is intended to increase access to vaccines in a […]
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Johnson County Public Health offers advice regarding B117 variant of COVID-19
Following the Iowa Department of Public Health’s announcement on Monday that three cases of the B117 variant of the coronavirus had been detected in Iowa — two in Johnson County and one in Bremer County — Johnson County Public Health put out a brief statement. “This particular variant has been detected in a number of […]
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ICCSD families will have to choose all in-person or all online instruction as new state law limits district’s options
Following Gov. Kim Reynolds’ signing of a new law requiring school districts to offer an all in-person class option, the Iowa City Community School District (ICCSD) announced it will discontinue the hybrid model of education it implemented when limited in-person instruction resumed last fall. “Effective February 15, 2021, the District will no longer offer the […]
