Officials with the Crawford County Home Health, Hospice & Public Health Department said late Friday evening, that COVID-19 test results have been confirmed in three county residents. The Iowa Dept. of Public Health reported to the County one of the cases is an adult between the ages of41-and 60. Two are adults ranging in age from 61-to 80. The cases are the result of “Community Spread” occurring within the county.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:50 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — As Iowa sees coronavirus infections rise and spread to more counties, school officials are struggling with what do do for the rest of the academic year. State public health officials on Friday reported 85 additional cases to a total of 699. Gov. Kim Reynolds says schools statewide are closed through at least April 30. Des Moines Public Schools won’t return this year. Instead, the district will use an at-home program. For the next month, Iowa schools can either offer voluntary classes or required learning. Under the voluntary option, no attendance is required and no credit is given.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Winning a Mega Millions lottery prize worth hundreds of millions of dollars was always a long shot, but soon it will be nearly impossible. The group the oversees the lottery game announced Friday it was following the lead of Powerball, the other national lottery game, and reducing its future jackpots. Blame both decisions on the new coronavirus, which has kept people at home and away from spots where they typically buy lottery tickets. People still have a shot at the current $121 million jackpot, but once there is a winner there won’t be a guaranteed minimum prize. The starting jackpots and rate of increase will be determined based on sales and interest rates.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s Republican governor has appointed a West Des Moines lawyer with longtime ties to the state GOP as the newest Iowa Supreme Court justice. Gov. Kim Reynolds named Matthew McDermott on Friday to fill the vacancy left when former Justice David Wiggins, a Democratic appointee, retired last month. McDermott served as lawyer for the state in a contentious lawsuit filed by a labor union challenging a 2017 Republican-backed law that made sweeping changes to Iowa’s public employee collective bargaining statute. McDermott’s team won the lawsuit and a subsequent appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court, which ruled the law change was constitutional. McDermott was also a lawyer for the Republican Party of Iowa from 2007–2012.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Board of Medicine is asking Gov. Kim Reynolds to issue a shelter-in-place order to further slow the spread of the coronavirus. The board, comprised mainly of doctors, voted to send a letter to Reynolds urging her to move beyond the current restrictions she has issued and impose a public shelter order. The board executive director says the doctors believe an order from the governor would further discourage individuals from meeting in groups and going out into public. Reynolds says she wants to hear what they have to say.

Atlantic Police responded to an incident Friday afternoon, whereby an argument over “personal products being purchased,” turned into a potentially deadly confrontation. According to Atlantic Police Lt. Devin Hogue, officers were called at around 4-p.m. to the Dollar General Store in Atlantic, where a man reportedly had displayed a gun during the incident. There were no injuries.

The man with the gun left the store and waited for Police to arrive.

Both subjects cooperated with police during the investigation. No arrests were made and no charges have been filed at this time. The incident remains under investigation.

Officials with Hy-Vee, Friday, announced additional changes to operations at the company’s stores, designed to help protect employees and customers in response to the evolving coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

In a statement, officials with the Iowa-based retail chain said “Over the upcoming days, all Hy-Vee stores will install additional temporary window panels on the back side of checkouts to help provide an additional layer of protection for both cashiers and customers. The panels are in addition to the panels already positioned on the front side of checkouts.

“This weekend, Hy-Vee is also placing new, one-way directional signage in its aisles that will be installed in all stores. The signage will direct customers to utilize aisles in a way that prevents them from passing each other, in an effort to maintain six feet of social distancing throughout the store.

“Also, effective Monday, April 6, customers shopping at all Hy-Vee locations will be strongly encouraged to follow a “one person per cart” rule to avoid multiple family members from accompanying a customer on shopping visits. Hy-Vee is asking that customers try to designate one person per family to visit the store during each visit and to avoid shopping in large groups in an effort to limit the number of people in stores at any given time.”

Hy-Vee’s chairman, CEO and president. Randy Edeker said “We continue to implement additional ways to adapt at Hy-Vee, so that we can serve our customers and protect the health and wellness of those who work and shop in our stores.”

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s Republican governor has appointed a West Des Moines lawyer with longtime ties to the state GOP as the newest Iowa Supreme Court justice. Gov. Kim Reynolds named Matthew McDermott on Friday to fill the vacancy left when former Justice David Wiggins, a Democratic appointee, retired last month.

McDermott served as lawyer for the state in a contentious lawsuit filed by a labor union challenging a 2017 Republican-backed law that made sweeping changes to Iowa’s public employee collective bargaining statute. McDermott’s team won the lawsuit and a subsequent appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court, which ruled the law change was constitutional.

McDermott was also a lawyer for the Republican Party of Iowa from 2007–2012.

Officials with Mills County Public Health, Friday afternoon, say they have been notified of the first confirmed case of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Mills County. The person is a male, between the ages of 41-60 years of age, and he is self-isolating. Mills County Public Health is conducting contact tracing investigation for this case to identify close contacts who should monitor their health symptoms and self-isolate. There is no additional general public guidance that would result from providing more information about the specific case.

ALL residents are urged to stay home as much as possible, stay away from groups of people and maintain a 6-foot distance from other individuals. Officials say this is needed by everyone, regardless of a confirmed case, because there is community spread of COVID-19 throughout the country and Iowa.

All residents are being reminded to continue to practice social distancing, wash your hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or elbow/upper arm and stay at home when you are ill.

Approximately 80% of Iowans infected with COVID-19 will experience only a mild to moderate illness. Most mildly ill Iowans do not need to go to their healthcare provider or be tested to confirm they have COVID-19. Sick Iowans must stay home and isolate themselves from others in their house. Self-isolation must remain in effect until:

• You have had no fever for at least 72 hours (3 full days of no fever without the use of medicine that reduces fevers), AND
• Other symptoms have improved, AND
• At least 7 days have passed since your symptoms first appeared.

Iowa Code states, “A report or other information provided to or maintained by the department, a local board, or a local department, which identifies a person infected with or exposed to a reportable or other disease or health condition, is confidential and shall not be accessible to the public.” For up-to-date information on COVID-19, visit the Iowa Coronavirus webpage at https://coronavirus.iowa.gov

(Radio Iowa) — Governor Kim Reynolds says some people are misinterpreting the lack of a statewide shelter-in-place order as a sign there are no restrictions in place in Iowa.
Dr. Anthomy Fauci, one of President Trump’s medical advisors, last night said he doesn’t understand why every state hasn’t issued one.

“Maybe he doesn’t have all of the information, again,” Reynolds said. “You can’t just look at a map and assume that no action has been taken. That is completely false.” Iowa is one of five states where there’s no statewide or regional stay-at-home or shelter-in-place order.

Reynolds says she has taken significant and incremental steps to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 by closing schools and businesses and ordering people not to gather in groups of 10 or more. “Iowans of all walks of life are either strongly in favor or strongly opposed to shelter-in-place,” Reynolds says, “and this has become a divisive issue at a time when we must be united in this response to this crisis.”

On March 15th, Reynolds recommended that Iowa schools close for four weeks. Yesterday (Thursday) she ordered schools to remain closed for the entire month of April. On the 17th of March, she ordered bars and restaurants to close. Over the following weeks the governor added a variety of retail businesses — from hair salons and barbershops to gyms and flower shops to the closure list.

“So if you did a side-by-side comparison of what we are doing in Iowa and what other states are doing, they are much the same,” Reynolds says. “Even those states that have implemented shelter-in-place orders have kept the majority of businesses open, similar to our orders.”

Reynolds told reporters this (Friday) afternoon she’s determined between 80 and 81 percent of Iowa businesses would be considered “essential” and allowed to continue operating under a shelter-in-place order. State officials announced earlier today (Friday) testing has confirmed 699 cases of COVID-19 in Iowa. Eleven Iowans have died of the virus and 80 are hospitalized for treatment.