Governor Orders Linn County Bars Closed
“We have seen and continue to see a notable increase in virus activity,” said Governor Kim Reynolds
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds ordered bars, taverns, breweries, and nightclubs closed in BlackHawk, Dallas, Linn, Polk, Johnson and Story counties beginning at 5:00 PM tonight in a new public health disaster declaration announced during her Thursday morning press conference. Restaurants, however, are allowed to remain open but cannot sell alcohol after ten o’clock at night.
Reynolds ordered drinking establishments closed expressing concern the disease spread, mainly by young adults in these counties, is becoming, “a workforce issue.” The worry is increased numbers of out sick workers, “will impact the staffing in our healthcare system and potentially our schools,” Governor Reynolds said.
Statewide, adults nineteen to twenty-four accounted for twenty-three percent of the total positive test results over the past two weeks according to Reynolds. Calling the data “compelling” the Governor noted sixty-nine percent of new Johnson County cases and seventy-seven percent of Story County cases over the last seven days came from college age adults.
Pictures of maskless patrons filling local bars in Iowa City and Ames sparked an immediate reaction from Regents University leadership.
Cyclone President Wendy Wintersteen issued a COVID-19 safety policy requiring masks and social distancing for any student at an on or off campus social event. Calling students’ previous weekend activities “unacceptable,” Wintersteen wrote failure to comply will be enforced through the University’s Student Code of Conduct with punishments up to suspension from school.
In an undated “open letter to the Iowa City business community,” University of Iowa President Bruce Harreld wrote he was, “exceedingly disappointed in some of the downtown Iowa City businesses,” for not enforcing mask and social distancing mandates. Writing, “Your decisions will directly impact the university’s ability to honor the choices our students made to be in our community,” Harreld made local business owners responsible for Iowa’s success or failure at in-person college classes.
There is no coincidence the increase in positive cases occurs right after college students’ arrival back on campus. Iowa State, which performed preemptive student testing, identified 175 positive cased during move-in. Niether the University of Iowa nor UNI performed tests as part of the arrival process but the U of I suffered a public relations black eye when a student from Illinois fell ill, tested positive and then was required to move herself at midnight into a run down quarantine dorm section in another residence hall.
Inclusion of Polk and Dallas counties in the order appears driven by the positivity rate more than a sudden arrival of a new population. According to the State’s coronavirus website, Polk’s rate is 11.7 percent with Dallas following closely behind at 10.7. Though Linn County has experienced double digit positive numbers for the past two weeks, the positivity rate is between six and seven percent based on analysis of reported numbers.
Reynolds called on law enforcement to assist with enforcing this latest declaration and hinted at further actions if these steps fail to slow the disease spread, though a mask mandate is not one of them.
Saying a mask requirement is, “not enforceable,” Reynolds leaned on an Iowa Attorney’s General opinion saying municipal and county level mask orders are illegal because they go beyond what the state requires.
When asked, the Governor dismissed the idea. “I don’t think that’s gonna get where we need to go,” Reynolds said.