FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

CONTACT: press@iowademocrats.org

As COVID-19 Cases Spike in Iowa, Reynolds Continues to Refuse Real Solutions or CDC Guidance

Despite dangerous coronavirus spread in Iowa, Governor Reynolds once again refuses to institute life-saving measures

DES MOINES — The pandemic is spreading across Iowa at an alarming rate: the state hit a 20% 14-day COVID-19 positivity rate this week. Hospitals in metro areas are reaching a critical capacity and Test Iowa locations are spread thin, making it incredibly difficult to even receive a COVID-19 test in some parts of the state. Yet as more and more Iowan lives are lost, at a press conference today Governor Kim Reynolds refused to issue a statewide mask mandate or implement other CDC guidance for Iowa.

In response to these record-high coronavirus hospitalizations, Reynolds is advising the bare minimum to limit indoor and outdoor gatherings — guidance that GOP leaders, including Reynolds herself, routinely ignored this month while holding super-spreader, largely maskless political events. The lack of solutions is just the latest example of Reynolds’ and the GOP’s failed leadership for Iowans.

Here’s a look at Reynolds’ failure on COVID-19 by the numbers:

  • Nearly 160,000 Iowans have contracted COVID-19 and almost 1,900 have died.

  • Iowa’s COVID-19 surge has the third steepest climb in cases in the country, up 167% from two weeks ago.

  • For the first time since the pandemic began, Iowa exceeded 1,100 COVID-19 hospitalizations this week.

  • As of yesterday, the state’s 14-day coronavirus positivity rate is over 20% and 90 of Iowa’s 99 counties are reporting rates over 15% for the same time period.

  • 93 Iowa long-term care facilities are currently experiencing a coronavirus outbreak.

“Governor Reynolds’ shameless refusal to follow CDC or White House task force guidelines has led Iowa to the worst outbreak our state has seen yet, eight months into this uncontrolled pandemic,” said IDP spokesperson Samantha Kennedy. “By following the GOP’s sinking ship and refusing to offer any real solutions to Iowans, Governor Reynolds is endangering even more lives.”