Governor Kim Reynolds extended the ongoing public health emergency declaration last week, keeping social distancing regulations in place through July 25.
The emergency proclamation has more than 160 rules and orders concerning public safety measures and regulatory relief for a COVID-19 world, but the general idea is consistent across the board. Businesses, events, and any other activity where people gather together must maintain six feet of distance between parties and be diligent on cleaning and hygiene habits.
While stricter regulations aren’t expected to be implemented, Reynolds has suggested that the current level of safety measures will remain in place through the rest of the year.
“The extension of the proclamation will remain focused on actively managing COVID-19 in Iowa,” said Reynolds. “We continue to assess virus activity and the progress on our response efforts on a daily basis as we have from the very start.”
Currently, Iowa is seeing a rise in cases, particularly among younger people as businesses re-open and summer activities resume. This has resulted in an increase in positive total cases, even as the fatality rate has been greatly reduced over the last month.
“We know that COVID-19 remains in communities across our state, and the nation, and will for some time,” said Reynolds. “We must all continue to do our part to keep the virus contained and manageable, even as we return to more of our every day activities.”
Long term care facilities have gone to extensive efforts to protect their residents and elderly Iowans are taking greater preventive measures due to their higher risk of complications. Meanwhile younger demographics, though less likely to suffer major complications from the disease, are contracting the virus at an accelerated rate.
As of Sunday, June 28, there have been 28,489 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state, increasing the 25,934 total from the week prior. The 2,555 new cases last week shows a modest up tick in the number of cases.
Approximately, 10,100 of the confirmed cases are currently fighting the disease, up 900 from the previous week. However, the number of serious cases have dropped again, with only 118 people hospitalized and 36 in an ICU.
In total, an estimated 1,140 elderly adults (age 80+), 3,419 older adults (61-80); 9,116 middle age adults (41-60); 13,390 young adults (18-40); and 1,424 children have tested positive for the disease. These estimates are based on a percentage-based breakdown of the state’s reported positive cases. As the total number of cases increase, the less accurate these estimates will become. A single percentage point difference can change an estimate by more than 280 cases.
Current testing shows that roughly 64% of positive cases result in symptoms while 13% have been asymptomatic, with the remaining cases pending or unknown.
31,915 Iowans have also undergone serology testing for coronavirus antibodies, which would indicate that they have had the virus. Of that number, 2,276, about 7%, have tested positive for antibodies.
The death rate for the virus continues to drop. Just 20 deaths were reported last week, bringing the death count total in the state to 705. Of that number, approximately 331 have been elderly, 282 have been older adults, 70 have been middle aged adults, and 14 have been young adults.
Nearly half of the new deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the state continue to result from outbreaks in long term care facilities. With 364 deaths in total, long term care residents have consistently made up roughly half of the state’s fatal cases.
Outbreaks in long term care facilities continue to drop, however. The total number of long term care facilities with active outbreaks dropped to 25 this week, bringing the current number of positive cases down to 735.
In total, 296,333 Iowans have been tested since the start of the pandemic. With an average of 5,580 tests per day over the last week, testing rates have risen back up above the state’s 5,000 tests per day goal.
As the state rolls into July, schools are preparing to open their doors once again.
Last week, the Iowa Department of Education released guidance for districts on what will be expected of them as kids return to the classroom.
However outside of general common sense guidance, such as keeping staff and students who are ill at home and teaching children to wash their hands regularly, the two-page document of state guidelines don’t offer any policy suggestions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in schools.
To the contrary, the guidelines largely focus on discouraging districts from implementing prevention policies, such as screening students at the door or mandatory mask wearing. For masks in particular, not only are mandatory mask policies not recommended, the guidelines emphasize preventing the stigma associated with non-use.
At the same time, schools are advised to allow the use of masks and are also instructed to provide appropriate PPE and training to employees to ensure that teachers do not face a stigma for wearing protective equipment.
For schools that do decide to implement a mask policy or any other policy beyond teaching good hand washing habits, the state wants it to be clear that they are acting on their own accord, without the backing of state.
“If a district is going to require more than what Department guidance outlines, they should only do so in consultation with public health and legal counsel,” as it says in the guidance. “Schools are reminded that when not using the Department’s guidance word for word, they should indicate this was a locally-determined distinction.”
