Despite the fact that Iowa is experiencing the highest rate of new COVID-19 cases seen since January, Gov. Kim Reynolds feels now is the right time to encourage non-Iowans to visit the state and consider moving here. And the governor is spending $3.7 million of the pandemic relief funds the state received from the federal […]
Iowa Department of Public Health
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Biden announces aggressive plan to fight COVID, Reynolds immediately rejects it; cases and hospitalizations continue increasing in Iowa
President Joe Biden announced a new six-part plan to “turn the corner” on the COVID-19 pandemic during a speech on Thursday evening. Before the president was even halfway through the speech, Gov. Kim Reynolds released a written statement denouncing the plan as “dangerous and unprecedented steps to insert the federal government even further into our […]
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‘A very clear disability discrimination situation’: ACLU and 11 Iowa families sue over state ban on school mask mandates
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Iowa filed a lawsuit in federal court on Friday, seeking to overturn the ban on school mask mandates Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law earlier this year. The national ACLU and the Iowa affiliate were joined by Disability Rights Iowa and the Arc of Iowa, an […]
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Reynolds says she wants to give ‘the public reliable information’ about COVID, before cutting off questions at news conference
“I believe the government’s role in a public health crisis is to provide the public reliable information, so that they can make and form their own informed decisions,” Gov. Kim Reynolds said during a news conference on Thursday. “I also believe that this approach is more effective than mandates that attempt to dictate other people’s […]
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A loophole in Iowa’s anti-mask law? Linn County Board of Health makes a suggestion as Delta spikes, especially among kids
“This is serious,” Dr. Pramod Dwivedi, health director of Linn County Public Health, said of the impact of the Delta variant in Linn County. “Last week, 605 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in our county,” Dwivedi said during Wednesday morning’s news conference with Linn County Supervisor Stacey Walker and Leslie Wright, chair of the […]
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COVID-19: Reynolds sued over ban on masks in schools; more than 7,000 new cases reported in latest update
One day after a lawsuit was filed against the state over the new state law barring school boards from requiring face masks in schools, IDPH published an update showing another 7,112 Iowans tested positive for COVID-19 during its most recent seven-day reporting period. The new cases included in the Wednesday update pushed the total number […]
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Gov. Reynolds condemns President Biden’s push to lift school mask ban in Iowa
With only a few days left before schools across Iowa reopen, Gov. Kim Reynolds denounced efforts by President Biden to prevent state governments, including Iowa’s, from prohibited face mask requirements in schools. Briefly speaking to reporters after participating in an event promoting Hy-Vee’s Indy-car racing team at the supermarket chain’s West Des Moines office complex, […]
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‘I’m not a scientist’: Gov. Reynolds on face masks; the Iowa State Fair opens as COVID cases keep climbing
The Iowa State Fair opened its 11-day run on Thursday with limited COVID-19 precautions, even though new data from the Iowa Department of Public Health showed new cases of the virus are continuing to increase rapidly and the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patient took a dramatic jump. In its weekly update issued on Wednesday, IDPH […]
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Sit-in planned at Iowa Capitol to push Gov. Reynolds to allow school COVID-19 mandates
A sit-in at the Iowa State Capitol is scheduled for Wednesday to protest Gov. Reynolds’ refusal to allow school districts to require face masks or have the Iowa Department of Public Health monitor COVID-19 in schools. The “Safe at School” sit-in is being sponsored by Safe at School and the Disability Caucus of the Iowa […]
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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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Iowa Department of Public Health sued for failing to produce public records related to Test Iowa
The Iowa Department Public Health is being sued for not complying with the state’s Open Records Act by failing to produce documents on Test Iowa requested by a Utah attorney. In her lawsuit filed in Polk County District Court on Thursday, Attorney Suzette Rasmussen of Draper, Utah, asked the court to compel IDPH to produce […]
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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” […]
