(Radio Iowa) – Public health officials in Dubuque County are dealing with a rise in COVID-19 cases, as local governments, hospitals, emergency managers, and others work to respond to the pandemic. The White House task force calls the city and county a “red zone.” Mary Rose Corrigan, the city of Dubuque’s public health specialist, says one challenge is confusion about when people who’ve had COVID-19 can go back to work. A few companies tried, erroneously, to require a negative COVID test.  “Research has shown us that people continue to test positive, even though they’re not symptomatic or contagious,” Corrigan says. “We’re trying to get the word out to worksites and others that those isolation guidelines are what they need to follow.”

More than 15-hundred cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Dubuque County, along with 29 deaths. Many people in the Dubuque area travel between Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin for work. Corrigan says others who take overnight trips should make decisions based on each situation.  “If a person from Illinois comes over to Dubuque and goes for a walk in the woods at a state park, there’s not much risk there,” Corrigan says. “If they come over to Dubuque and they go to a bar and spend the night at two restaurants and four different bars that are crowded, that’s a different risk.”

Corrigan says assess the risk and make contingency plans ahead of time, then follow your plan if the situation changes. One long-term care center in the county has had an outbreak and the Public Health Incident Management Team is working with all area nursing homes, which can now order their own testing, but it’s hard on residents as they can’t have visitors. Corrigan says the team is also providing education and information to school districts which are now deciding how to hold classes.

(Radio Iowa) – Webster County authorities are investigating an officer involved shooting south of Fort Dodge. The Fort Dodge Police and Webster County Sheriff’s Department were called to a residence shortly after 7 Tuesday evening for a report of suicidal female with two knives. Reportedly the woman ran at the sheriff’s deputy armed with a knife in each hand. The deputy fired his gun at the woman. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The names of the woman who died and the deputy who fired the shot have not been released. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation has been called in to assist in the investigation.

Police in Red Oak, Tuesday, arrested 19-year old Pacey William Bingham, of Red Oak. He was arrested in the area of 500 High Street at around 6:45-p.m., on a warrant for Violation of Probation. Bingham was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds has set aside 60 million in federal aid for eligible Iowa cities and 40 million for counties to cover pandemic-related expenses.  “These funds can be used to reimburse for expenditures such as Covid-19 medical supplies and equipment — PPE, sanitizing products, testing supplies and ventilators,” Reynolds says, “other Covid-19 expenses such as payroll costs for public health and public safety personnel, emergency staffing and overtime medical transportation.”

An additional 25 million in federal funds will be available for local governments to use as matching money for FEMA grants. Storm Lake Mayor Mike Porsch says city officials will have to deal with reduced tax revenue during the current budgeting year. “I think I can not only speak for Storm Lake, but for every city and county in the state. This is going to be much appreciated,” Porsch says. “…As we go through our budgets here in this fiscal year, we’ll be having a reduced funding due to a reduction of the sales tax and hotel-motel taxes.”

Porsch and Clay County Supervisor Berlin Mathews joined Reynolds at her news conference yesterday (Tuesday). Mathews is president of the Iowa State Association of Counties and he says the pandemic has had a significant impact on county budgets. “County budgets are really bare-bones budgets for necessities,” he says. Mathews says a survey conducted by the Iowa State Association of Counties suggests county supervisors will have to find a way to cover “tens of millions of dollars” in pandemic-related expenses, so these federal funds are welcome.

For example, Mathews says Clay County had to spend over 20-thousand dollars just to reopen county-owned buildings that were closed to the public this spring.

(Radio Iowa) – The University of Iowa tells students they will not be required to be tested for COVID-19 before moving into the residence halls. Information released from the school says testing may provide some comfort for families, but it is not recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and only provides data for a specific point in time. The school says testing can miss cases in the early stages of infection — giving students a false sense of security — and also requires significant resources to conduct.

The U-I says it is instead focusing on modifying classrooms and facilities to promote social distancing, providing and mandating cloth face coverings, and conducting enhanced cleaning and disinfection.

A spokesperson for Iowa State University says they are requiring coronavirus tests of students as one part of their strategy to manage the virus on campus. the University of Nothern Iowa is NOT requiring tests as students move in.