Saturday, March 21
DES MOINES – The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) has been notified of 23 additional positive cases of Iowans with COVID-19, for a total of 68 positive cases. To date, there have been 1,049 negative tests conducted at the State Hygienic Lab.
According to IDPH, the locations and age ranges of the 23 individuals include:
Allamakee County, 1 middle age adult (41-60 years), 1 older adult (61-80 years)
Black Hawk County, 1 middle age adult (41-60 years), 1 elderly (81 years or older)
Dubuque County, 1 older adult (61-80 years)
Fayette County, 1 adult (18-40 years)
Henry County, 1 adult (18-40 years)
Johnson County, 3 adults (18-40 years), 1 middle age adult (41-60 years), 1 older adult (61-80 years)
Linn County, 2 adults (18-40 years), 1 middle age adult (41-60 years)
Muscatine County, 1 middle age adult (41-60 years)
Polk County, 2 middle age adults (41-60 years), 2 older adults (61-80 years)
Pottawattamie County, 1 middle age adult (41-60 years)
Story County, 1 adult (18-40 years)
Washington County, 1 middle age adult (41-60 years)
A status report of monitoring and testing of COVID19 in Iowa is provided by IDPH and can be found here. In addition, a public hotline has been established for Iowans with questions about COVID-19. The line is available 24/7 by calling 2-1-1 or 1-800-244-7431. The state of Iowa will begin to share the number of negative tests conducted at outside labs.
Iowans who have traveled recently for business or spring break vacations, whether internationally or domestically outside of Iowa, should strongly consider self-isolating for 14 days. This will support Iowa’s ongoing efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, and limit the introduction of the virus from other points of travel.
Iowa has implemented many provisions to emphasize social distancing, and self-isolation after travel is another measure we can take to slow the spread of the virus and avoid quickly overburdening our healthcare system.
Gov. Reynolds will hold a press conference on Sunday, March 22, at 2:30 pm. The press conference will be livestreamed and posted in full on Governor Reynolds’ Facebook Page.
