At a news conference today, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds talked about stemming the rising tide of COVID 19. She also promoted her public information program.
There have been nearly 200 thousand total positive cases of covid 19 in Iowa, and more than two thousand deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. State health officials say there were 38 more deaths and almost 4,200 new cases this morningTuesday, the Governor announced tougher rules requiring Iowans to practice social distancing and wear masks in public places when they cannot social distance.
She also called for limits on the number of people at holiday gatherings.Indoor gatherings will be limited to 15 people or less by the proclamation, including weddings, funerals, family gatherings, festivals, conventions, and other “nonessential” gatherings. Reynolds was asked to elaborate on those rules as Thanksgiving approaches.
Reynolds said people should be aware of their surroundings, and practice mitigation efforts. She said the state had put targeted mitigation steps in place and she was willing to dial them up if needed and dial them down as soon as the state started seeing some change.
Today the govnernor also announced a major public information campaign with Iowa celebrities like former Governor Tom Vilsack and former University of Iowa wrestling coach Dan Gable asking citizens to wear masks and social distance.
Locally today, Siouxland District Health says today there have been 133 cases added to the total case count in the last 24 hours. Woodbury County continues to experience significant community spread of COVID-19.
