DES MOINES, Iowa — Minnesota's Democratic Gov. Tim Walz called out Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds during a press conference Friday for removing the state's mask mandate.
Last week, Reynolds, a Republican, lifted the mask mandate and gathering restrictions for the entire state just days after three cases of the United Kingdom variant were confirmed to be in Iowa.
The restrictions were lifted on Sunday.
"I can't imagine being at 25% positivity rate like we're seeing in Iowa and that is the, you're going to overwhelm your hospitals," Gov. Walz said. "It's, it's inevitable. It's just math, it's math, it's not anything else. And that can all be alleviated by the situation we're in."
In Minnesota, businesses and restaurants are required to limit capacity to 50%. Walz is also mandating these establishments to close after 11 p.m. so the state can achieve a lower positivity rate.
The Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm told the media Thursday that the seven-day test positivity rate for the state is 3.9%.
According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, Iowa's 7-day positivity rate for individuals was 6.6% as of Friday evening. The 14-day positivity rate sat at 8.4%.
However, county-level data shows 24 of Iowa's 99 counties have 14-day positivity rates greater than 10%. Adair County has the highest with 22.4% while Mitchell County is at 2.3%.