Gov. Kim Reynolds announced on Thursday her administration will officially stop taking any action that treats “COVID-19 as a public health emergency” at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 15. That is when the extension of the state’s Public Health Disaster Emergency Proclamation the governor signed before her announcement expires. The proclamation was first issued on […]
White House Coronavirus Task Force
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Dr. Caitlin Pedati, who oversaw Iowa’s COVID-19 response, gets a new job
Dr. Caitlin Pedati, the former medical director of the Iowa Department of Public Health and state epidemiologist, who oversaw the Reynolds administration’s minimal approach to COVID-19 mitigation, has found a new job. Pedati, who announced in September she would be stepping down from her Iowa positions in “late October” has been hired by the Virginia […]
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COVID-19: ICCSD’s waiver request was denied as Reynolds plans elimination of hybrid learning; deaths surpass 4,000
Late on Thursday afternoon, the Iowa Department of Education (DOE) rejected the Iowa City Community School District’s request for a waiver to switch to all online classes for two weeks. The district applied for the waiver on Tuesday as Johnson County’s COVID-19 test positivity rate continued to increase over the last two weeks, with fears […]
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Reynolds administration decides it no longer needs the White House Coronavirus Task Force’s weekly reports
Gov. Kim Reynolds’ administration has decided Iowa no longer needs the weekly report on the state from the White House Coronavirus Task Force. “We are not requesting the report at this time,” Iowa Department of Public Health spokesperson Sarah Ekstrand told the Des Moines Register in an email on Monday afternoon. Ekstrand did not respond […]
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Iowa surpasses 250,000 COVID-19 cases as the Pfizer vaccine takes another step towards FDA approval
Late Thursday afternoon, the FDA’s vaccine advisory panel voted 17 to 4, with one abstention, to recommend the agency grant emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to be administered to people 16 and older. The FDA almost always follows the panel’s recommendations, and the emergency use authorization is expected to happen quickly. The four […]
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Gov. Reynolds relaxes some COVID-19 restrictions as deaths from the virus surpass 3,000
Iowa surpassed 3,000 deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday, but Gov. Kim Reynolds started her news conference late Wednesday morning by focusing on positive trends. “We are now nearly two weeks out from the Thanksgiving holiday, and we continue to see the same slow, steady in new cases, positivity rates and hospitalizations that we have since […]
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Iowa reports 70 COVID deaths, a new one-day record
Iowa shattered its record for most COVID-19 deaths reported in a 24-hour period at 10 a.m. on Thursday, as the Iowa Department of Public Health disclosed another 70 Iowans have died from the virus. The previous one-day high for reported deaths came eight days earlier on Nov. 25, when IDPH reported 47 deaths. IDPH has […]
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White House Coronavirus Task Force warns the country is ‘in a very dangerous place,’ ranks Iowa sixth for rate of new cases
In its latest report, the White House Coronavirus Task Force warns the entire country is “in a very dangerous place due to the current, extremely high COVID baseline and limited hospital capacity; a further post-Thanksgiving surge will compromise COVID patient care, as well as medical care overall.” “The COVID risk to all Americans is at […]
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As Iowa finishes a record-setting month for COVID deaths and cases, a Dallas County bar owner sues to overturn restrictions on businesses
At 10 a.m. on Monday, the Iowa Department of Public Health reported 2,403 people had died from COVID-19 in the course of the pandemic in Iowa, an increase of 28 deaths since 10 a.m. on Sunday. Among the deceased were a resident of Johnson County and a resident of Linn County. Monday’s deaths bring the […]
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COVID-19: Gov. Reynolds fears ‘over-mitigating’ as Iowa’s care facilities flounder
Iowa had the fifth-highest rate of new cases of COVID-19 in the country last week, according to the latest White House Coronavirus Task Force report. The report, which was sent to the governor’s office on Sunday and published by ABC News on Tuesday, said Iowa had the third-highest positivity rate in its COVID-19 tests of […]
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Iowa reports 40 COVID deaths, a one-day record; Gov. Reynolds relaxes a restriction she imposed two days ago
One day after Iowa surpassed 2,000 COVID-19 deaths, the Iowa Department of Public Health reported its highest one-day number of new deaths from the virus. IDPH reported another 40 deaths from the virus fatalities during the 24-hour period ending at 10 a.m. Those deaths brought the total number of COVID-19 fatalities IDPH has reported since […]
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Gov. Reynolds sends mixed messages on face masks as Iowa surpasses 2,000 COVID deaths
Gov. Kim Reynolds began her news conference on Tuesday by repeating much of what she said during her televised speech on Monday night, when she introduced some new, limited COVID-19 restrictions. “Over the last two weeks, the number of hospitalizations have climbed daily,” Reynolds said. “And at times the increases have been significant.” There were […]
