The Iowa Department of Public Health and Taylor County Public Health, have identified one additional case of COVID-19 in the county. The person affected is between 18-and 40 years of age. The latest results brings the total number of case positives in Taylor County, to three.

Officials with Pottawattamie County Public Health (PCPH), Monday (Today), reported Nine new COVID-19 positive cases among residents of Council Bluffs. One person is 18-to 40 years of age, two are 41-to 60, six are 61-to 80 years old. They were tested between May 7th and 15th. As of today (Monday), 2,060 Pott. County residents have been tested for the virus, with 171 having tested positive.

Two persons who tested positive are hospitalized, 92 or self-isolating, and 74 have fully recovered. As previously mentioned, the vast majority of COVID-19 positive cases in Pottawattamie County have not required hospitalization, and have been able to fully recover at home. On May 18th, two additional cases were tracked via PCPH contact tracing investigations, bringing the current number of community spread cases down from 55 to 53.

For additional COVID-19 information, including case demographics filtered by county, go to https://coronavirus.iowa.gov/.

In honor of Memorial Day, Greenfield’s Ray “Bubba” Sorensen will repaint the 12-foot tall, approximately 60-ton boulder known as the “Freedom Rock,” to pay tribute to our military men and women. Sorensen started painting the original Freedom Rock® the first week of May and plans to be finished by Memorial Day 2020. The rock, located south of Interstate 80 in Adair County, just east of Highway 25, will feature the men of Iwo Jima “Raising of the Flag” on the front side.

Work in progress photos courtesy Maria Sorensen/Freedom Rock Communications Coordinator.

The Marine Corps has closed the investigation on who took part in the iconic Flag Raising. They determined one of the men was an Iowan, Harold Keller. The side of the rock flows from the front lines of yesterday into the front lines of today, with a military nurse wearing a mask, eclipsing the USNS Comfort, as it coasted into New York Harbor. The previously painted Vietnam Era Huey helicopter stays on the Rock again this year, as the paint that it is comprised of has been mixed with the ashes of our Vietnam Veterans since 2006.

Sorensen is not commissioned for his work on the original Freedom Rock® in Menlo, Iowa but works as an independent mural artist on the Iowa Freedom Rock® Tour. He is only able to complete about ten rocks
per year, due to scheduling and weather and is currently booked into the 2021 year. “I always say I have three goals with ‘The Freedom Rock® Tour’ and that is to honor America’s Veterans, promote Iowa tourism and provide for my family.” Sorensen said.

The Freedom Rock® Tour in Iowa will be concluding soon and the Sorensen’s are looking to form the Freedom Rock® Foundation, a nonprofit to care for and upkeep and create the Freedom Rocks® and
Veterans memorials across the state and country. For a list of complete counties booked for the Tour and locations of already existing Freedom Rocks®, please visit www.thefreedomrock.com.

Although it is Sorensen’s 22nd annual year of painting the original Freedom Rock®, this is Sorensen’s eighth year on the Freedom Rock® Tour across Iowa. This also marked the fourth year since Sorensen began the 50 State Freedom Rock® Tour with rocks already painted in Missouri and Wisconsin, Minnesota and Washington. Freedom Rocks® have been booked for the states of North Dakota and Nebraska
Sorensen plans to be at The Freedom Rock® over Memorial Day weekend, including Memorial Day to meet with visitors.

Calendars as well as other merchandise are also available to help offset costs for the project. Social distancing practices will be implemented.

(Radio Iowa) — The governor’s moratorium on evictions is set to expire next week. “We’re looking at a couple of different scenarios on how we move forward with that to make sure that we’re not removing that too soon as we being to open up our economy,” Reynolds says, “and help Iowans get the skills to fill some of the jobs that are available as we begin to move forward.”

One idea, from the Iowa Economic Development Authority, would provide grants to apartment OWNERS who have unemployed tenants who lost their jobs due to the pandemic. Another part of the governor’s proclamation that expires next week forbid utility shut-offs. Reynolds says she’s still reviewing all aspects of the closures and restrictions that she ordered this spring that remain in place through May 27th.

(Radio Iowa) — State officials say there are TWO cases in eastern Iowa of a rare illness among children that’s likely linked to COVID-19. Dr. Caitlin Pedati, the state medical director, says it’s called “multi-system inflammatory syndrome.” “This is something we’re following very closely in order to learn more about,” Pedati says. Children in Iowa and elsewhere have made up a small number of reported cases of COVID-19. “Thankfully, reports of children becoming seriously ill are very rare,” Pedati says. “However, late last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shared a message alerting health providers and public health professionals to this new kind of inflammatory syndrome that seems to be associated with COVID-19.”

Symptoms include fever and inflammation throughout the body. “Now, like with so many things with this response, this is an example of a place where we need to learn more,” Pedati says. Iowa doctors and hospitals in Iowa are now required to report suspected cases to the state. Public health officials in New York have identified 100 cases of this new syndrome there and national media reports indicate three children in New York have died.

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.