Statewide Iowa — Governor Kim Reynolds says the state website with coronavirus data is being updated.
No word yet on what additional information may be posted. Democrats in the legislature have criticized the Reynolds Administration for shifting to weekly updates on the website this summer, saying it’s happening at a time parents are making decisions about whether to send young, unvaccinated kids back to school. The governor says there are no plans to resume daily updates to the state’s coronavirus website.
There is a backlog of requests for at-home COVID test kits provided by the state, free of charge. Reynolds says state officials expected there would be high demand for kits. Reynolds says up to 48-thousand Test Iowa kits have been mailed out, but fewer than a fourth of them have been used.
Inmates at the state prison for women in Mitchellville are being paid to assemble the test kits. Iowa Department of Corrections officials estimate the women can assemble up to 25-thousand kits per week. The process does not provide snap results, as it takes a few days to get a requested kit in the mail and then the sample must be packaged and mailed to the State Hygienic Lab. The lab pledges to provide results via email within 24 hours of getting the test kit.
