032520 504
A Sioux City homeless shelter closed early for the season, today (Wednesday) because of COVID-19.
Lindsay Landrum (LAN-drum) is the executive director of the Warming Shelter in Sioux City. She says the shelter doesn’t have the ability to quarantine people or staff if they become exposed to the new coronavirus. She told the residents this morning (yesterday/Wednesday morning) that they needed to leave.
Typically the temporary shelter is open through April 30th. Landrum says she’s working with the city to find some housing and hotel vouchers for the homeless population.
Monona County has its first case of the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19.
This is the fourth such case in Northwest Iowa. Woodbury County was the first in the region to have a positive case announced over the weekend, followed by Sioux County the following day. A second case was confirmed in Woodbury County this week.
The Monona County individual is self-isolating at home, according to a press release from Burgess Public Health in Onawa. The age and gender of the person are not known, nor is the town in which they reside.
Iowa has a total of 145 COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. The first death tied to the virus in Iowa was announced Tuesday.
Iowa National Guard soldiers from the 11-33rd transportation company based in Mason City and Iowa City are on the road this week delivering medical personal protective equipment.
Guard spokesperson, Colonel Michael Wunn says the group dropped off supplies in ten counties Tuesday and were expected to visit distribution sites in 21 more counties today.
