With the new year, new mask policies are being put in place in some Iowa schools and several districts are dropping their mask mandates as of today (Monday). The C-D-C says all 99 Iowa counties are seeing high transmission of COVID-19, and Nola Aigner Davis at the Polk County Health Department says vaccines and masks remain the best ways to bring down the number of infections and hospitalizations. “COVID-19 is not slowing down anytime soon,” she says, “and it’s especially not going to slow down after the holidays when individuals gathered with family and friends and traveled.”

In many cases, school boards decided to make masks optional because COVID-19 vaccines are available for school-aged children, but Aigner Davis says the change in policy is ahead of the numbers.  “This would be a reasonable step to take if we saw a high rate of individuals under the age of 18 getting the vaccine,” she says. “We are still not seeing high vaccination rates for children under 18.”

Masks are no longer required in several Iowa school districts, including Decorah, Linn-Mar and Southeast Polk. Masks will become optional for West Des Moines students later in the month. Some school districts may require masks if there is a spike in coronavirus infections. In Mount Vernon and College Community schools, a mask mandate will be reinstated if the COVID-19 positivity rate is higher than 2 percent in a school and the absence rate is over 8 percent.

(by Grant Gerlock, Iowa Public Radio)

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department says there were two arrests over the holiday weekend. Friday afternoon, 34-year-old Jessica Renee Swietek, of Mt. Ayr, was arrested for Driving While Barred. She was later released on a $2,000 bond. And, on Saturday, 26-year-old Jimmy Wayne King, of Texas, was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center, on charges of OWI/1st offense, and Carrying Weapons while intoxicated. He was also later released on a $2,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa chapter of the American Red Cross is starting out 2022 much as it always does, with a critical need for blood donors as blood supplies are dangerously low. Agency spokeswoman Sue Thesenga says she’s hoping the blood shortage in the new year makes people stop and think about what they can do to help year-round. “We really encourage people to resolve to do something good this year and blood donation is a very easy way to make a resolution to help people in need,” Thesenga says. “It only takes an hour of someone’s time and it doesn’t cost a dime.”

The Red Cross is in need of all blood types, especially those with type O, which is considered a universal type for transfusions. You can safely donate blood every 56 days,” she says. “So a lot of times donors donate once or twice during the year, and that is fabulous, but if they donated more regularly and more often, that would probably help us avoid situations like we’re in right now.”

To find a place to donate, visit redcrossblood.org.