POLK COUNTY, Iowa — The Polk County Board of Supervisors gathered for a special meeting Thursday to adopt a resolution to encourage residents and jurisdictions to follow the recent mitigation efforts implemented by Gov. Kim Reynolds.
The measures include wearing a mask while inside public spaces and limiting gatherings to household members only.
This comes as cases, deaths and hospitalizations experience a surge in the state. Iowa is ranked third for both new cases and test positivity in the latest White House Coronavirus Task Force report.
Polk County has been averaging about 500 cases per day in the last few weeks. As of 2 p.m. Thursday, nearly 30,000 Polk County residents have tested positive for the virus.
Polk County's Facebook page posted a surge alert of COVID-19 on Thursday, reporting 760 cases per 100,000 people for this week with 19.4% test positivity.
329 Polk County residents have died, according to the post.
A press release from the Board of Supervisors says going into the flu season with hospitals already nearing capacity leaves the community at risk for not being able to access health care services when needed.
"If you can't think about anything else, think about what's happening in our hospitals right now," Supervisor Angela Connolly said during the meeting.
"That's why we're asking by this resolution, nothing more nothing less, just to mask up and reduce your gatherings and we're going to get there."
Polk County Board of Supervisors Chairman Matt McCoy voted against the resolution, the only board member to do so. A statement from the supervisor says the resolution "missed the mark at addressing the COVID-19 pandemic."
McCoy argues that anything short of a mask mandate is inadequate. While Reynolds' proclamation enforces the use of mask wearing in public, it only does so for those that are indoors and within six feet of people who are not members of their household for 15 minutes or longer.
"We are running out of time and our failure to act now will result in catastrophic consequences for our hospital system, which is already stressed beyond capacity," McCoy said in the statement.