Statewide Iowa — As COVID-19 cases climb in Iowa, Governor Kim Reynolds is requiring mask wearing at indoor gatherings of 25 or more people and imposing new restrictions on the crowd size at high school basketball games, wrestling matches and other youth sporting events.
(As above) “The things that seem the least threatening are some of the highest risk activities right now, like wedding receptions, youth sports, even having some neighbors over to watch a football game,” Reynolds says.
Reynolds is ordering businesses to evaluate whether more employees can work from home. The governor says Iowans should minimize their time away from home as much as they can.
(As above) “I’m asking you to think about how you can make a difference and it may mean making some really hard decisions,” Reynolds says. “Please consider avoiding events where public health measures may not be followed.”
Masks are now required for customers and employees at personal care businesses, from barbershops to tattoo parlors. The state’s coronavirus website shows more than 11-hundred people hospitalized for treatment of the virus, with outbreaks in more than a hundred nursing homes statewide.
(As above) “Effective at midnight, any social, community, recreational or sporting gatherings with more than twenty-five people indoors, or one hundred people outdoors will be prohibited unless all people over the age of two wear masks.”
The new mask mandates do not extend to churches or to schools, although the governor says many school districts are already requiring mask wearing inside buildings and on buses. Reynolds is urging Iowans to postpone events like birthday parties and family gatherings.
(As above) “It’s up to all of us to determine if our actions will protect someone,” Reynolds said, “or put them at risk.”
The governor says hospital staffing is becoming a challenge and it may soon impact Iowans who need care, for COVID or otherwise. She urges Iowans to rethink any planned gatherings and how their actions could impact their own lives and the lives of others.
The governor’s new limitation of two spectators per athlete at a youth sporting event does NOT apply to this weekend’s high school football championships in Cedar Falls. Masks are required for the crowd in the UNI-Dome.
