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Iowa Government Kim Reynolds addresses Iowans at her weekly press conference on Thursday, February 4, 2021 in Johnston, Iowa, where she provided updates on COVID-19’s vaccination efforts.
(Bryon Houlgrave / The Des Moines Register via AP)
According to Governor Kim Reynolds’ latest health statement, Iowans will no longer have to mask themselves in public buildings from Sunday morning.
The new rules – which reverse the restrictions Reynolds set for Thanksgiving – also lift previous restrictions on the number of people allowed to congregate in one space at any given time, along with social distance requirements for businesses such as restaurants and gyms.
“It allows us to get back to business at a very critical time,” Jessica Dunker, head of the Iowa Restaurant Association, told Des Moines Register Saturday.
“We’re… a day before the Super Bowl, which opens a lot of businesses for crowds to come in and watch the big game safely.”
Reynolds, who once rejected mask mandates as a “feel-good” measure, changed his mind in November as COVID-19 cases soared in Iowa and elsewhere.
According to reports, her office gave no explanation for the governor’s decision to lift those restrictions. Iowa reported 804 cases of coronavirus Friday morning and is ranked 46th in the country in terms of vaccine distribution, the registry said.
The new proclamation “strongly encourages Iowans, companies and organizations to take reasonable public health measures in accordance with the guidelines of the Iowa Department of Public Health,” the governor’s office said in a statement.
But at least one prominent public health voice in the state criticized the move, announced days after state officials announced three confirmed cases of the highly contagious UK COVID-19 variant.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea, to put it bluntly,” Iowa Public Health Association president Lina Tucker Reinders told the Registry.
“We are not out of the pandemic yet.”