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Iowa early News Headlines: Thursday, July 23rd 2020

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July 23rd, 2020 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:35 a.m. CDT

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — One of the first coronavirus outbreaks at an Iowa meatpacking plant was more severe than previously known, with over twice as many workers becoming infected than the Iowa Department of Public Health publicly confirmed. The department announced at a May 5 news conference that 221 employees at the Tyson Foods pork processing plant in Columbus Junction had tested positive for COVID-19. But records show that days earlier, Tyson officials told workplace safety regulators that 522 plant employees had tested positive to their knowledge. A dozen of the plant’s roughly 1,300 workers were believed to have been hospitalized by then, and two died after contracting the virus.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An aide to Gov. Kim Reynolds says concerns with the quality and safety of coronavirus testing at a busy clinic in Dubuque prompted the state to sharply reduce its operations this week. Reynolds spokesman Pat Garrett says the state will send 2,000 additional kits to Dubuque County to make additional testing available to residents at other area clinics to fill the gap. Dubuque announced Monday that the governor’s office had ordered that testing at the Epic Health and Wellness Clinic be open only from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. Tuesday through Thursday and take no more than 100 samples per day. The site had been processing up to 550 samples per day.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — The FBI has raised to $10,000 the reward for information related to the disappearance of a 10-year-old Iowa girl who went missing earlier this month. Kristi Johnson, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s office in Omaha, says that agents from around the country were searching for 10-year-old Breasia Terrell of Davenport. She says the “number one goal” is to find the person who is responsible and bring that person to justice. Terrell was reported missing July 10, after going to spend the previous night at an apartment with her half-brother and his father, 47-year-old Henry Dinkins.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — State health reports show Iowa has surpassed 800 COVID-19 deaths as confirmed cases continue to climb. The state health department’s virus tracking site showed that as of 10 a.m. Wednesday, there had been 10 more deaths reported in the previous 24 hours. That brought the state’s total deaths to 808 since the beginning of the outbreak. The site also shows another 374 cases confirmed from Tuesday to Wednesday, bringing the state’s total to 39,793. As of Wednesday morning, 224 people were hospitalized for the virus — higher than what had been seen in recent weeks, but still far lower than the state’s peak of 417 on May 6.