No public or private school, college or university, nor any licensed child care center in the state of Iowa will be able to require anyone attending it — from preschooler to graduate student — to be vaccinated against COVID-19 under a bill Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law on Tuesday. The CDC currently recommends everyone […]
COVID-19 vaccine
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State senator calls COVID-19 vaccines ineffective before committee approves bill to ban vaccine requirements in schools and daycares
A Republican state senator falsely claimed COVID-19 vaccines are ineffective and called the idea of requiring them the “political belief of authoritarians who want to force their belief in… the hive-mindset,” just before the Iowa Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that bans COVID-19 vaccine requirements at schools, universities and child care facilities. Sen. Jason […]
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Iowa discovers thousands of previously unreported COVID cases, as Republicans push through bill to nix vaccination incentives
The state changed how it provides information about COVID-19 cases and deaths to the public this week, as the Reynolds administration officially stopped treating the pandemic as a public health emergency at the stroke of midnight on Wednesday. Instead of the weekly COVID-19 update the Iowa Department of Public Health used to post to coronavirus.iowa.gov […]
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COVID-19: Gov. Reynolds says ‘We need to move on,’ IDPH reports another 172 deaths
“It’s time to end it and move on,” Gov. Kim Reynolds told reporters at the Iowa State Capitol on Wednesday when asked about her decision to stop classifying COVID-19 as a public health emergency next week. “And we need to treat it [COVID-19] like we do other viruses. So, the Department of Public Health will […]
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Only 19% of the state’s 5-11 year-olds fully vaccinated against COVID; Iowa Republicans advance bill to ban vaccine requirement in schools and childcare centers
The number of new cases of COVID-19 in the Iowa Department of Health’s weekly update declined for the second week in a row, possibly indicating the surge driven by the spread of the Omicron variant in the state is now receding. According to IDPH, there were 22,730 newly confirmed cases of the virus over the […]
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Washington Post highlights strain on Iowa hospitals; 40% of Iowa’s COVID-19 deaths occurred in 2021
In its final weekly COVID-19 update for 2021, the Iowa Department of Public Health reported another 11,234 new cases on Wednesday, bringing the total number of the new cases confirmed by the department in its weekly updates during the month of December to 54,619. IDPH also disclosed another 59 deaths from the virus, bringing the […]
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President Biden unveils plan to help hospitals and increase testing; Gov. Reynolds wants Supreme Court to block federal vaccinate mandate
The Iowa Department of Public Health said another 10,381 cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed in the state during the most recent seven-day reporting period in its weekly update on Wednesday. The department also disclosed another 119 deaths from the virus. Those newly reported deaths brought Iowa’s official COVID-19 death toll to 7,799. For the […]
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Omicron detected in more Iowa counties, indicating community spread of the COVID variant
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 […]
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The first case of the Omicron variant in Iowa has been detected
The first case of the Omicron variant was confirmed in Iowa on Thursday, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. The State Hygienic Laboratory (SHL) detected the COVID-19 variant in a sample for an unvaccinated resident of Black Hawk County, who is under the age of 18. The person has no symptoms, but was […]
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COVID-19: Iowa adds 13,000 new cases; Gov. Reynolds celebrates legal win; Johnson County passes new mandate
Over the last seven days, Iowa hit new highs for the year in the number of newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 and the number of patients hospitalized with the virus, according to the latest weekly update from the Iowa Department of Public Health. IDPH reported 13,039 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, a significant jump […]
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President Biden unveils plan to fight COVID spread over winter; hospitalizations in Iowa reach a new high for 2021
“I know COVID-19 has become very divisive in this country, it’s become a political issue, which is a sad, sad commentary,” President Joe Biden said on Thursday. “It shouldn’t be, but it has been. Now as we move into the winter and face the challenges of this new variant, we can put the divisiveness behind […]
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Judge halts enforcement of federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health workers in Iowa and nine other states
On Monday, a federal judge in Missouri issued a preliminary injunction stopping the Biden administration from enforcing the mandate requiring workers at healthcare facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid dollars to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The injunction only applies to the 10 states who filed the lawsuit against the mandate. Iowa is one of those […]
