Iowa reports another 4 COVID-19 deaths, bringing statewide total to 1,381
This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by applegrove (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).
Source: Desmoines Register
Another four people with COVID-19 have died in Iowa and there have been an additional 684 confirmed cases, the state reported Sunday.
At 10 a.m. Sunday, the state was reporting 1,381 COVID-19-related deaths, an increase of four deaths since the state's tally at 10 a.m. Saturday, according to the state's Coronavirus.Iowa.gov website.
COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus. The state was reporting at 10 a.m. Sunday that there are 92,545 confirmed cases of coronavirus, an increase of 684 since 10 a.m. Sunday.
The state has been changing how it reports testing data, which has caused spikes in the rate of positive data. Before the changes, the state was consistently reporting a positivity rate, that is, the percentage of tests that were positive, below 10%. Iowa also is now counting the results of antigen tests, a relatively rapid type of coronavirus tests, that will increase the reported rates of infection in some counties.
Read more: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/health/2020/10/04/covid-19-iowa-statewide-death-total-now-1-381/3617796001/
Joni Ernst and other Iowa Republicans have been in lock step with Trump on the subject to masks.
https://www.iowapublicradio.org/political-news/2020-08-28/ernst-greenfield-disagree-on-whether-iowa-should-have-a-mask-mandate
The two major party candidates for U.S. Senate in Iowa disagree on whether there should be a statewide mask mandate. Earlier this month, President Trump’s Coronavirus Task Force recommended to state leaders that they implement a mask mandate.
Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, who is running her first re-election campaign, does not think a statewide mask mandate is necessary to help slow the spread of COVID-19 in Iowa. She says it’s about personal responsibility.
“I don’t think the government should be all do all end all and tell us how to live our lives,” Ernst said. “I think they should encourage it and we should use our best judgment when and where we wear a mask.”
Ernst says she wears a mask in public.
= new reply since forum marked as read
and literally a commuter bedroom community state to NYC, has a bit more than 1/2 the cases as IA! 
