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News and resources regarding COVID-19

News 7.13.20: Another C-19 Death in Dakota County, Denver Flights, Ponca Tribe on Mascots and More

City of Denver

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SPM NEWS 7.13.20 - 4:32PM
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SPM NEWS 7.13.20 - 5:04PM
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SPM NEWS 7.13.20 - 5:32PM

Dakota County Health officials report one more death due to COVID-19 for a total of 39, plus 10 new cases for 1,819 in all.

There are 6 new cases in Woodbury County for a total of 3,346 and 44 deaths.

Governor Kim Reynolds released a video message urging Iowans to voluntarily wear a mask and practice social distancing and other health measures to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Iowa saw the biggest one-week increase in more than two months with 3,600 extra positive cases logged last week. 

For the whole state of Iowa there are 35,520 positive cases and 754 deaths with more than 500 positive cases in Sioux County, 300 in Dickinson County and 1,700 in Buena Vista County.

Buena Vista County is also tracking two outbreaks at long-term care facilities; one at Pleasant View Home with 11 cases and 7 recoveries and Good Samaritan Society-Newell 11 positives and 10 recoveries. In Woodbury County, there is an outbreak at Touchstone Healthcare Community with 18 positive cases and three recoveries and Good Samaritan Society in Le Mars has four positive cases and one recovery.   

An outbreak is established when there are three or more positives cases of the coronavirus in either residents, or staff, or both.

The state of Nebraska recorded 285 deaths and 21,172 positive cases.  In South Dakota, there are 109 deaths and 7,524 cases with 151 positive cases in Union County, almost 400 in Lincoln County.

Sioux City’s airport will soon have flights to Denver once again.

The city council approved a resolution to launch a contract with SkyWest Airlines. This is the first step in bringing in a daily roundtrip flight between Sioux Gateway Airport and Denver International Airport.

Councilwoman Julie Schoenherr says she thinks people who live in and near Sioux City will enjoy the service. And flights into the city from Denver will also benefit the region.

Even more importantly, it may be beneficial to Siouxland for those wanting to come here in both family and friends coming in, business partners and perhaps potential business who may want to have an office or a home base here.” 

According to city documents, flight service is expected to start October 1st and end February 28th, 2022 – but could continue past that date.

The Sioux Gateway Airport last had flights to Denver in 2014 through Frontier Airlines. Frontier ended its service just four months after launch.

The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska released a statement following announcements by sports teams to either change or potentially change their names.

Part of the statement from the Tribal Council says “The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska is encouraged that this long-overdue moment has arrived, with one professional sports franchise abandoning a mascot that perpetuated a racial slur and another examining how Native American mascots are offensive and have no place in our society. “

Washington’s NFL team announced today they will no longer be called the “Redskins”, a name long described as racist.

The Cleveland Indians announced on Friday they are discussing a possible name change for their team.

The number of women having abortions in Iowa climbed last year.

Critics blame the turnaround on the state’s controversial decision to withdraw from a federally funded family planning program.

After decades of plummeting abortion numbers, the state last year recorded more than 3,500 abortions. That is 25% more than the previous year.

Last year’s increase came after the number of Iowa abortions dropped 56% from 2008 to 2018.

In spite of spotty showers, Iowa farmers had nearly 6 days suitable for fieldwork last week.  According to the weekly report issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, those activities included spraying pesticides and harvesting hay.

The condition of both the state’s corn and soybean crop is 83% good to excellent. That data, however, was collected before Saturday’s storms which brought with them damaging wind and large hail. 

Statement from the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska:

(NIOBRARA, Neb.) – The Tribal Council for the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska today released a statement regarding recent news that at least two professional sports franchises – the Cleveland Major League Baseball (MLB) team and the Washington, D.C. National Football League (NFL) team – review the use of Native American mascots and symbols for their respective teams. The statement comes as the Washington NFL team today announced that they’re retiring a racial slur that has been used as its mascot for decades.

“The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska is encouraged that this long-overdue moment has arrived, with one professional sports franchise abandoning a mascot that perpetuated a racial slur and another examining how Native American mascots are offensive and have no place in our society. Using Native Americans as sports mascots and our deeply meaningful symbols, including headdresses, is inappropriate. Advancing troubling stereotype in popular culture and society via sports mascots diminishes our personhood.

“The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska is hopeful that other sports franchises will make the right decision by ceasing their use of derogatory and offensive mascots, and thereby examining their own use of mascots, chants, symbols and themes that disparage our people.”

For more information on the harmful use of Native American mascots and the origins of certain derogatory terms, please visit the National Congress on American Indians’ informational website.