COVID-19 pandemic in Iowa
The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached the U.S. state of Iowa in March 2020. The first known cases were three individuals who had traveled on a cruise in Egypt before returning home to Johnson County on March 3.
Timeline
March 2020
- March 8 – The first confirmed COVID-19 cases in Iowa were announced — three individuals who had traveled on a cruise in Egypt before returning home to Johnson County on March 3.
- March 9 – Governor Kim Reynolds signed a Proclamation of Disaster Emergency.
- March 15 – Governor Reynolds recommended closing schools for four weeks. The state worked on developing legislation to provide child care during the emergency, including food for low-income students. The total number of confirmed coronavirus infections in the state increased to 22.
- March 25 – Number of cases in Iowa reached 145, and one fatality reported in Dubuque County.
- March 26 – Governor expanded upon previous COVID-19 disaster proclamations to halt non-essential surgeries.
- March 27 – Governor's office asserted: " Proclamation suspends all nonessential or elective surgeries and procedures until April 16th, that includes surgical abortion procedures".
- March 28 – The number of coronavirus cases in Iowa reached 298.
- March 29 – Number of cases in Iowa reached 336, and a fourth fatality reported in Linn County.
April 2020
- April 1 – Number of cases reached 549, and the number of fatalities reached 9.
- April 2 – Governor Reynolds ordered schools to remain closed through the end of April.
- April 4 – Number of cases reached 786, and the number of fatalities reached 14.
- April 9 – The Iowa Department of Public Health has been notified of 125 additional positive cases for a total of 1,270 positive cases. There have been an additional 882 negative tests for a total of 13,703 negative tests to date, which includes testing reported by the State Hygienic Lab and other labs.
- April 10 – As of April 10, there were 14,565 negative COVID-19 test results reported by the State Hygienic Lab and other labs, and a total of 1,388 positive cases. Members of the White House including Jared Kushner, Kellyanne Conway, Joseph Grogan, Dr. Deborah Birx, Dr. Anthony Fauci and other White House coronavirus task force members receive from Robert Redfield the Centers for Disease Control guidance documents and decision trees to re-open communities, however, the CDC guidance and decision trees for communities including meat packers was rejected for the White House's "Opening Up America Again Plan" that is later released in early May.
- April 17 – Governor Kim Reynolds announced that Iowa schools remain closed for the remainder of the school year.
- April 20 – As of April 20, there were 22,661 negative COVID-19 test results reported by the State Hygienic Lab and other labs, and a total of 3,159 positive cases, with 79 deaths attributed to COVID-19.
- April 27 – Governor Reynolds announced that 77 counties will remove some business restrictions on May 1 while the counties of Polk, Dallas, Black Hawk, Linn, Louisa, Tama, Johnson, Bremer, Benton, Allamakee, Dubuque, Fayette, Marshall, Jasper, Iowa, Poweshiek, Scott, Washington, Muscatine, Henry, Des Moines, and Woodbury will maintain full business restrictions until May 15 because they were hard hit with infections.
May 2020
- May 6 – Hy-Vee began limiting meat purchases to four packages. Reynolds met with President Trump at the White House to discuss coronavirus outbreak and her response.
- May 7 – As of May 7, there were a total of 11,059 positive cases, with 231 deaths attributed to COVID-19.
- May 13 – Governor Reynolds announced that reopenings of restaurants, libraries, and fitness centers will be extended to the entire state, and also include barbershops, tattoo parlors, massage therapists, and salons, as of May 15.
- May 14 – As of May 14, there were a total of 13,675 positive cases, with 318 deaths attributed to COVID-19.
- May 28 – As of May 28, there were a total of 18,502 positive cases, with 500 deaths attributed to COVID-19.
June 2020
- June 13 – For the first time since early April, no COVID-19-related deaths were reported.
- June 14 – As of June 14, there were a total of 23,879 positive cases, with 651 deaths attributed to COVID-19.
July 2020
Government response
On April 3, 2020, Governor Reynolds defended her government's response, arguing that the measures taken, including closing schools and some businesses, were equivalent to a mandatory shelter-in-place or stay-at-home directive.Testing
Initially, Iowa had a low rate of persons testing positive for the coronavirus.Upon a recommendation from Ashton Kutcher, a Utah-based company was hired to run Iowa's $26 million coronavirus testing program.
On April 25, 2020, the first new testing site was launched in Des Moines under the new initiative TestIowa.com.
During a May 6, 2020, White House meeting with Governor Reynolds, President Trump responded to the substantially increased coronavirus testing rate that "... all this testing, we make ourselves look bad... we're going to have more cases."
On May 14, 2020, Governor Reynolds announced that the Iowa State Hygenic Lab had completed TestIowa's validation and could start processing these tests as well.
As of May 22, 2020, the TestIowa program was operating eight test sites.
As of May 22, 2020 researchers at the University of Iowa were hoping for a newly developed at-home spit test to be approved within weeks.
Impact
Researchers at Iowa State University created a web hub to help track the coronavirus pandemic's impacts on the economy.Meatpacking industry
Iowa's largest industry sector is manufacturing, with food manufacturing constituting the largest subsector.Therefore, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the meat packing industry is particularly disruptive to the industry in Iowa.
Five meat packers dominate the United States with over 80% of the market: JBS, Smithfield, Cargill, Tyson, and Hormel.
Tyson Foods plants
On April 26, 2020, John Tyson, the billionaire heir and chairman of the board of Tyson Foods which is the second-largest meat packer in the world, stated that nationwide meat shortages were likely due to the coronavirus outbreak. According to Liz Croston, Tyson Foods communications manager, when a plant has 10% or more testing positive, the plant will be shut down.- In April 2020, a Tyson Foods pork processing plant in Columbus Junction closed down after 148 workers tested positive for coronavirus, and two workers died.
- The Tyson plant in Waterloo shut down on April 22 after more than 180 tested positive for the coronavirus. The Tyson Foods plant at Waterloo re-opened on May 7, 2020. On May 8, 2020, Black Hawk County health officials revealed that 1,031 of the 2,800 workers or 38% at the Waterloo plant tested positive for the coronavirus.
- The entire workforce at the Perry Tyson Foods plant was tested on April 25, 2020. On May 6, 2020, Sarah Reisetter, deputy director for the Iowa Department of Health, stated that 730 out of a workforce of over 1,200 at the Perry Tyson Foods plant had tested positive for coronavirus and that before closing, 26% of the Columbus Junction plant and 17% of the Waterloo plant had tested positive for COVID-19.
- On May 8, 2020, at Sioux City in Woodbury County, health officials were conducting extensive testing for the Siouxland District Health Department due to its close proximity to the Tyson Foods plant at Dakota City, Nebraska in addition to the testing at the Test Iowa site. According to Tyler Brock, Deputy Director for Siouxland District Health, no results of the testing will be made public until the Iowa state epidemiologist, the state director of heath, approves its release to the public. On May 2, 2020, Woodbury County had the second highest coronavirus test positive rate at 35% in Iowa.
- On Saturday May 16, 2020, the state of Iowa through Test Iowa will test more than 3,000 employees at the two Tyson Foods plants at Storm Lake in Buena Vista County.
Iowa Premium National Beef
Hormel
On May 6, 2020, the Hormel plant in Osceola was reported having a coronavirus cluster.West Liberty Foods
On May 8, 2020, the West Liberty Foods turkey packing plant at West Liberty announced furloughing one third of their workforce after the sharp decline in demand for turkey products which resulted in a huge oversupply of turkey products in cold storage and that 136 employees out of 994 tested positive for the coronavirus. Since farmers will reduce the size of their turkey flocks sent to the plant for 18 weeks beginning in June, the plant will not process turkeys beginning in November 2020 and continuing for four months until spring 2021.Upper Iowa Beef
By May 13, 2020, 22 of 150 people associated with an Upper Iowa Beef plant in Lime Springs, Iowa were tested positive for COVID-19.Unemployment
By May 14, 2020, Iowa reported record new weekly unemployment claims for eight straight weeks, totaling at 299,098, which represents almost 20% of Iowa's eligible workforce.Education
The University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and the University of Northern Iowa are expecting losses from the coronavirus pandemic to exceed $76 million, $89 million, and $28 million, respectively.All three public universities are also considering freezing tuition and fees for the academic year 2020–21.
Both University of Iowa and Iowa State University project decreased fall enrollment.
Elections
In Iowa's primary elections, polling locations were greatly reduced: for example there were 28 locations instead of the usual 135 in Polk County.55,000 absentee votes were cast in the county.
Prisons
Through a statewide prison labor program, prisoners across Iowa helped make 98,000 masks, 40,000 gowns, 17,000 face shields, and 24,000 gallons of hand sanitizer within a few weeks.Sports
Due to Minor League Baseball being shut down, the Iowa Cubs are exploring making Principal Park available for concerts and amateur baseball games.Softball and baseball games were supposed to begin being carried out again in Iowa starting on June 15.