The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office Tuesday (Today), said 31-year old Christopher Lee McDaniel, of Council Bluffs, was served with a warrant, Monday. McDaniel, who is being held in the Pott. County Jail, was presented with a warrant for Violation of a No Contact Order/Contempt of Court. His bond on other charges was set a $3,000. And, 28-year old Zane Michael Hytrek was arrested at around 1-a.m. Tuesday (12/8), following a traffic stop near Minden. HyTrek was taken into custody for Driving While Barred/Habitual Offender.

An Atlantic man currently out on bond in connection with an incident that occurred Nov. 4^th in Adair County, was arrested Monday night in Pottawattamie County. The Pott. County Sheriff’s Office reports 53-year old Rex Dean McDermott was arrested at around 8:36-p.m., for Public Intoxication, bond for which was set at $300. Jail officials say he was also being held under a request from the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office, where he faces charges that include Driving While Barred (1 count), and Driving While Revoked (4 counts).

McDermott had previously been arrested on Adair County Class-D felony warrants for Willful Injury causing bodily injury, and Going Armed with Intent. His jury trial on those charges was set at March 9^th.

The Atlantic School Board, at Wednesday’s meeting, will, as planned, re-examine district guidelines for the use of Face Masks/shields.Their meeting begins at 6-p.m. in the High School Media Center, and will be recorded for public viewing once the meeting concludes.

As we have mentioned previously, the School board on October 23rd approved the current policy requiring a face cover in those circumstance when it is impossible to social distance. During their meeting late last month, the board decided to extend the deadline until this Thursday, December 10th. According to Wednesday’s agenda, Superintendent Steve Barber will recommend continuing the mask mandate in locations where a positive case can quarantine many students and staff.

In other business, the Atlantic School Board will act on: Fall 2021 Extracurricular Contracts (See the list of coaches recommended, below); A Technology Purchase of a three-year license for the District’s Sonicwall (Firewall), in the amount of $14,984; They’ll also act on approving a high school parking lot engineering contract with Snyder and Associates Engineers, $89,750 (total project cost estimated at $800,000-$850,000).   Consent Agenda items include approving contract recommendations for Matt Smith, Interim Head Boys Soccer Coach, and Mark Vavricek, Substitute Special Education Car Driver.

Following regular business, the Board will enter into a closed session for the Superintendent’s Annual Evaluation.

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Here are Atlantic Activities Director Andy Mitchell’s recommendation for the fall of 2021 extra-curricular coaching contracts:

• Head Varsity Football: Mike McDermott; Assistant Football Coach Lee Saathoff.
• Junior Varsity Football Coach: Joe Brummer; Assistant Junior Varsity Football Coach Oran Perkins
• Freshman Football Coach: Matt Mullenix
• Middle School Football Coaches: Conner Larsen, Tim Duff, Bryce Casey, and Chase Roller.
• Head Cross Country Coach; Dan Vargason;, Assistant Cross Country Coach Derek Hal.
• Middle School Cross Country Coach: Taylor Williams.
• Head Volleyball Coach: Michelle Blake
• Junior Varsity VB Coach: Alyssa Dovenspike
• Freshman VB Coach: Jeremy Blake
• Middle School VB Coaches: Faith McCunn, Amber Moore, and Jessica Larsen.
• Head Girls Swimming Coach: Dean Junker
• Football Cheerleading Coach: Michella Bartholomew.

A change to how the state of Iowa reports coronavirus-related deaths increased Iowa’s COVID-19 death toll to 2,898, today (Tuesday). Until Monday, the Iowa Department of Public Health only reported COVID-19 deaths if the person who died had a positive PCR test result. That method left out deaths in which a person had tested positive using an antigen test and cases in which COVID-19 was listed as the cause of death on a death record without a positive test result. The Iowa Department of Public Health said the federal system for cause-of-death did not include COVID-19 as a cause of death when the pandemic first began. Moving forward, the state of Iowa will report all COVID-19 deaths in which a health care provider reports the cause of death or underlying cause of death as coronavirus.

With that information, here is the latest data from the State: Deaths (as mentioned) total 2,898, an increase of 181 from Monday; 2,650 deaths are from underlying causes; 248 are contributing factor deaths.  Positive cases increased 1,393, to 246,237. Long-Term Care facility outbreaks have increased from 137 Monday to 141 today. LTC deaths amount to 1,127.

Hospitalizations stand at 900, with 191 COVID patients in an ICU, 111 admitted since 10-a.m. Monday, and 111 patients are on a ventilator. Hospitals in western/southwest Iowa report 57 COVID patients, 20 of whom are in an ICU, eight were recently admitted, and 10 are on a ventilator. Hospitalization analysis shows 645 patients were hospitalized with a primary COVID-19 diagnosis, while 255 were hospitalized for another reason but tested positive for the virus. State data shows 63% of those hospitalized are 60 or older, with 34% of the total hospitalized over the age of 79.

State data shows 1,255,014 Iowans have been tested for coronavirus. Iowa reports a 14-day positivity rate of 16% and a 7-day rate of 12.1%. Iowa reports 67 of the state’s 99 counties have a 14-day positivity rate at 15% or greater. That’s down from 74 the previous day. There are 18 counties with a rate at 20% or higher, down from 25 a day earlier. There are no longer any counties with a rate greater than 30%. Cass County’s positivity rate has fallen to 13.9%.

In the KJAN listening area, here are the current number positive cases; and the total number of deaths in each county (Configured by the new reporting formula):

• Cass, 876 cases; 34 deaths
• Adair, 485; 15
• Adams, 196; 2
• Audubon, 315; 6
• Guthrie, 811; 22
• Harrison County, 1,171; 46
• Madison County, 779; 6
• Mills County, 1,134; 7
• Montgomery, 556; 12
• Pottawattamie County, 7,059; 69
• Shelby County, 826; 16
• Union County,  899; 9