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Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds lifted coronavirus restrictions that were in place in the state before Thanksgiving on Friday.
The Republican’s latest health proclamation will not require Iowans to wear masks inside public buildings and removes limits on indoor and outdoor gatherings.
“I strongly encourage all businesses or other employers who remain open to face-to-face transactions to take reasonable steps under the circumstances of each establishment to ensure the health of employees, customers and members of the public, including health and safety practices. social distancing, increased hygiene practices and other public health measures to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19, ”the proclamation reads, according to KCCI-TV in Des Moines.
The order takes effect Sunday at midnight.
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Jessica Dunker, president and CEO of the Iowa Restaurant Association, praised the order, which avoids social distancing requirements in restaurants and bars.
“Frankly, it allows us to resume our activities at a really critical time,” she said, according to the Des Moines registry. “We’re… a day before the Super Bowl, which opens up many businesses for the crowds to come and watch the big game in safety.”
Kim Reynolds, Governor of Iowa, speaks in Davenport, Iowa, October 31, 2020 (Getty Images)
But Lina Tucker Reinders, executive director of the Iowa Public Health Association, said she believed the restrictions were lifted too soon.
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“I don’t think that’s a good idea, to put it bluntly,” she said, according to the registry. “We are not yet out of the pandemic.”
Representative Cindy Axne, the only US Democratic Congresswoman from Iowa, called the move “short-sighted, ill-conceived and dangerous.”
In Des Moines, Mayor Frank Cownie said the city’s mask mandate would remain in effect, KCCI reported.
“To me, the science has been very clear. When you see a spread like the one we’re seeing in Iowa state and Polk County, we have to be more diligent,” Cownie told the station.
The governor’s ease in restrictions comes as the number of new cases and hospitalizations follow the state’s peak around the holidays.
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Still, the state has just passed 5,000 deaths and at least three cases of a new British variant considered to be more contagious have been confirmed, according to the Des Moines Register and NPR.
The state has also struggled to roll out the vaccine and is ranked third – ahead of Idaho and Missouri – in per capita distribution, Reynolds said, according to the registry.
“We’re on average at about 60% of vaccines given and that’s not where we need to be,” Reynolds said at a press conference last week, KCCI reported. “We want to do better. We know we can do better.”
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