DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Advocates are raising money to pay for the burial of a 36-year-old Congolese refugee who died of the coronavirus earlier this month in Des Moines.Embarc Iowa, a refugee services organization, said that Wiuca Iddi Wiuca died May 4 after a sudden illness and two weeks in the hospital.The group says advocates need to raise thousands of dollars to have Wiuca buried this week at an Ankeny cemetery, adding that a traditional burial in the Congolese community is extremely important.

Wiuca leaves behind two adult siblings who, like him, were resettled to Des Moines last year from a refugee camp in Tanzania. They had fled war in Congo in 1996.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Regulators declined to inspect an Iowa pork plant after receiving a complaint alleging insufficient efforts were being made to halt the spread of the coronavirus. One state senator says that decision failed workers and allowed an outbreak to grow. An April 11 complaint to the Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration says employees at the Tyson Foods plant in Perry, Iowa, worked “elbow to elbow” and that social distancing was near impossible.

Records show Iowa OSHA waited nine days before contacting Tyson, which took eight days to respond. The agency described Tyson’s voluntary safety efforts as “satisfactory.” A week later, the state announced 730 workers tested positive.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — As businesses across the state are beginning to reopen, Goodwill of Central Iowa has announced plans to permanently close four retail store as well as a career center. The nonprofit organization said last week it had permanently closed stores in Grinnell, Oskaloosa, Waukee and south Des Moines because of the financial hardship of restrictions imposed in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Goodwill has opened stores in Ames, Ankeny, Des Moines, Johnston, Indianola, Marshalltown, Ottumwa, Urbandale and two stores in West Des Moines. The organization also has closed the south Des Moines outlet and career connection center.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, today (Monday) said 103,148 Iowans have been tested for COVID-19. Officials reported 304 new positive cases and 4 deaths. That brings the statewide total to 14,955 positive cases and 355 deaths. Reynolds said 7,324 have recovered, for a recovery rate of 49%, and hospitalizations continued to remain relatively flat for the past week. With that having been said, according to the Governor, Iowa “continues the trend in right direction to recovery,” with regard to COVID-19.

(She said that validates the time is right to move into the “recovery” phase of COVID-19.”)

The latest data shows there are currently 382 patients hospitalized, with 121 listed in intensive care. IDPH reported 47 patients admitted in the last 24 hours, with 85 patients on ventilators. IDPH reported 3,810 inpatient beds available, with 483 ICU beds available. There are currently 732 ventilators available. There are COVID-19 outbreaks reported in 36 of Iowa’s long-term care facilities. That number is down from 37 reported on Sunday. Reynolds said regardless of whether Iowans choose to resume their normal activities or choose to wait, only you know what’s best for your family. There is no mandate for businesses to re-open at a limited capacity, she said, or for Iowans to anything they’re not ready to do.

She said Iowa is at a point where “We can and must strike a balance between managing virus activity for the long-term, and getting our economy up and running again.”

The Governor said also, the State’s COVID-019 database is being updated to provide more timely information.

She said also, that a new, dedicated call center for TestIowa is open.

The number is available on the TestIowa.com website. Any other questions related to COVID-19 may be addressed by calling 2-1-1.

Atlantic Police and Medivac Ambulance responded at around 10-a.m. today, to a single-vehicle rollover accident. The incident happened on 22^nd Street.  One person was transported by private vehicle to the hospital, to be checked out. Additional details were not immediately available.

(Radio Iowa) — U-S Census Bureau workers are shifting to a new phase this week in the effort to count how many people call Iowa home. Gary Krob, coordinator of the State of Iowa Data Center — the lead state agency managing the state’s census data, says so far, so good for the once-a-decade census. “Sixty-six-point-four percent of all Iowa households have responded,” Krob says. “The national response rate right now is actually 59.5%, so we’re doing better than the national rate. We’re currently ranked third in the country behind Minnesota and Wisconsin.”

Krob, who serves on the State of Iowa 2020 Census Complete Count Committee, says postcards were mailed to every Iowa address in March, directing recipients to either a website or a phone number to complete this year’s census. “What’s going to start happening this week is that the Census Bureau will be going out to households that don’t have what’s considered a traditional mailing address, so, people who wouldn’t have gotten a postcard yet,” Krob says. “They’re going to drop off the forms to those households and it’s really only about less than 1% of the households in the state of Iowa.”

Due to coronavirus, many deadlines are being pushed back. Census workers won’t start following up with non-responsive households until mid-August, about a month later than normal. People are sometimes wary of anyone who comes to their door, but Krob says Census workers will be easy to identify. “They’ll have I-D, they’ll have a badge, there’ll be a phone number you can call, there will be ways for people who have a worker at their door to identify them and to verify it’s legit,” Krob says. “The easiest way to avoid that is to go online and fill out the form or use the phone number and fill it out that way. If you do that, then no one’s going to be knocking on your door.”

Census data will be used to determine the size of Iowa’s slices from multiple federal pies over the next decade. Iowa has more than $8.7 billion at stake through 55 different programs which consider population as part of their distribution formula. Census figures also determine Iowa’s representation in Congress.

(Radio Iowa) — Four Democrats seeking the opportunity to challenge Iowa Republican U-S Senator Joni Ernst in November will appear together TONIGHT n the first televised forum of the 2020 campaign. Chris Larimer, a political science professor at the University of Northern Iowa, doesn’t expect the candidates to be that critical of one another. “I think where the criticism will go toward President Trump and potentially Governor Reynolds will be on management style,” Larimer says.

The four candidates running are Mike Franken, Kimberly Graham, Theresa Greenfield and Eddie Mauro. Tonight’s debate begins at 8 p.m. and will be broadcast on Iowa P-B-S. There will be no studio audience. While the candidates will be on the same stage, they’ll stand than six feet from one another and there will be huge planks of vertical plexiglass providing additional safety barriers.