Republican Governor of Iowa, Kim Reynolds, issued a new health statement on Friday that relaxed many of the state’s existing COVID-19 regulations.
Among the policy reversals in the proclamation of the public health disasters are the abolition of the requirements for indoor masks in public areas and the social distance requirements that previously restricted social gatherings and businesses. The new policy will take effect Sunday at 12:01 a.m., KCCI reports.
In the document, Reynolds states, “ I strongly encourage that all companies or other employers remain open with personal operations, take reasonable steps under the conditions of each establishment to ensure the health of employees, patrons and members of the public, including social distance. practices, increased hygiene practices and other public health measures to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19. “
Reynolds’s office said in a statement that the new measures “will continue to provide critical regulatory relief for 30 days to those on the front lines of COVID19 recovery.”
It remains unclear why Reynolds decided to relax the coronavirus restrictions, and the governor’s office did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.
Shortly after the announcement, “CovidKim” began trending on Twitter as social media users criticized the Governor’s actions.
So reckless. Such a bad decision through @RTLnews #CovidKim when we are 47th in the country for vaccination rates and 16th for COVID-19 per capita. https://t.co/Vykuon2FpI
– heather (@hthrnnclrk) February 6, 2021
I can not do it. Even. Anymore. This is so amazingly irresponsible with the new variants already appearing in the state. I think 5,000 deaths are not enough #CovidKim. https://t.co/k6bqL1XaeC
– Theresa Wilson (@IowaMsAnthrope) February 5, 2021
#CovidKim like https://t.co/MS4RaDaNwA pic.twitter.com/nJ5RHIgsqM
– Kevin Gannon misses Grogu (TTheTattooedProf) February 6, 2021
Although the state has experienced a decline in coronavirus cases in recent months, 804 confirmed new cases of the virus were registered Friday morning, the Des Moines Register reported.
According to the Iowa Department of Health, the state has experienced 323,516 cases of the coronavirus and 5,067 deaths from the virus since the start of the pandemic. In the past seven days, 7.1 percent of the tests came back positive.