Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is defending her decision to reopen businesses despite a surge of coronavirus deaths, saying that a continued lockdown would come at a “social cost.”
Restaurants, fitness centers, salons, and barber shops reopened statewide for the first time in two months. Some local officials said that Reynolds was reopening the state too soon, particularly in areas that still have high numbers of cases. They urged their citizens to exercise caution in determining whether to visit businesses and to wear facial coverings in public.
Reynolds announced that 18 more Iowans have died of the coronavirus, including 16 residents of long-term care facilities. Sixty-five people have died over the last four days, bringing the state’s total to 336.
The Iowa Department of Public Health reported 18 additional COVID-19 deaths and 374 more positive tests
1-in-34 Iowans have been tested, according to IDPH, and 6,561 have recovered.
WATCH: Gov. Kim Reynolds' full press conference for May 15, 2020
The latest numbers from the Iowa Department of Public Health:
- 14,049 positive tests (+374)
- 93,556 tested (+4,262)
- 79,507 negative tests (+3,888)
- 336 deaths (+18)
- 6,561 recovered (+330)
- 387 hospitalized (-18)
- 35 long-term care facility outbreaks (unchanged)
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