The Gazette Daily News Podcast

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Tuesday, November 24th.

You may awake to find your home surrounded by a thin layer of snow. Or, if it’s a bit later, it will be rain and wind that will greet you. Great options. According to the National Weather Service, there should be some cold November rain in the Cedar Rapids area Tuesday, with a high of 44 degrees. This rain will come with a 10-15 wind gusting as high as 25 mph. Tuesday night will see a low of 40 degrees, with a bit more rain and a bit less wind possible.

Iowa’s COVID-19 numbers have momentarily trended in a slightly less terrible direction, but with the Thanksgiving holiday on the horizon, it is too early to know if the state has meaningfully reversed its most recent spike of the disease. The positivity rate for data analyzed by the Gazette on Monday was 33.21 percent, which is not good, but as the state has hovered above 40 percent for much of November, it is a welcome change if it stays. Hospitalizations have also appeared to have stabilized in the past few days, hovering in the 1,350 patient range, but patients on ventilators and in intensive care were up slightly Monday, suggesting that even if the intake of new patients were to decrease, the result of the spike will still show serious consequences.

2,222 people had died of the virus as of Monday night, 17 total deaths for the day.

Ousted Cedar Rapids Police Officer Lucas Jones will not be reinstated, the city’s Civil Service Commission agreed Monday, though his lawyer said Jones would appeal.

The three-person commission heard Jones make his case in September and then considered legal briefs over the last several weeks. In a virtual meeting Monday, the panel voted unanimously to deny Jones’ case and uphold the police department’s earlier decision to terminate him for rules violations.

Jones’ attorney, Skylar Limkemann, said afterward his client will appeal in court.

Jones was fired June 18 after the department said an internal investigation revealed he had violated policy during a traffic stop on Oct. 30, 2016, and lied about it. This traffic stop was a few days before he became involved in a traffic stop with a man named Jerime Mitchell, who Jones shot during the arrest. Mitchell was paralyzed by the incident but a grand jury declined to pursue charges against Jones. Jones claims that he was actually fired due to pressure from the Black Lives Matter movement this summer, along with other internal department politics.

The Republican candidate in Iowa’s still-too-close-to-call 2nd Congressional District says the results of a recount in Scott County completed over the weekend cannot be trusted, arguing “numerous votes” are missing.

Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ campaign over the weekend claimed the three-member recount board’s tally of absentee ballots is off by 12 from what was recorded in the official canvass of votes by the Scott County Board of Supervisors.

Why does Miller-Meeks care about 12 votes? Well, her Democratic challenger has pulled from 47 votes down to 36 votes down, with more to be recounted. So literally every vote may count. The Miller-Meeks campaign contends that Scott County used both manual and optical scan counting when either is required by law, while the Hart campaign is pushing for a deeper dive into ballots in Johnson and Scott counties, which tend to favor Democrats.

For those who are curious, if these two candidates end up in a tie, two scraps of paper will be placed in a “receptacle” and the winner will be drawn at random.

This is John McGlothlen with the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Monday, November 23rd.

The weather today will be mostly sunny, with a high near 42. Overnight, snow, then rain possibly mixed with snow, is expected before 5 a.m. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches is possible.

Workers from Texas who said they had not been paid for nearly a month of construction work in Cedar Rapids will be paid by a Colorado company overseeing the project. https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/business/iowa-derecho-recovery-workers-texas-paid-20201121 (BluSky Restoration Contractors) will pay more than $30,000 to at least six men who had been working with a subcontractor to repair ceiling leaks, hang drywall, install insulation, paint and clean apartments at Cottage Grove Place since Oct. 16. Company representatives earlier this week said they were surprised the workers hadn’t been paid. Mike Erekson, chief operations officer for BluSky said BluSky’s records showed they had paid the subcontractor, Pablo Ramirez, of Houston, and didn’t know whether or why workers hadn’t been paid what they were owed.

Iowa’s skyrocketing spread of COVID-19 showed signs again Sunday of inching down from record levels, though measures remain high and public health officials continue to call for caution this holiday. The state reported that https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/coronavirus-iowa-hospitalizations-deaths-covid19-20201122 (3,403 new cases were added in the 24-hour period) ending at 11 a.m. Sunday, bringing the state’s total so far to 210,062. That new daily number helped continue to bring down the state’s weekly average of new cases for the seventh day in a row, though that average remains far higher than it has been for the majority of the time the pandemic has been confirmed in Iowa. The number of people being treated in Iowa hospitals for the disease inched down also in the 24-hour period. Current hospitalizations dropped from 1,416 to 1,340 patients. Those in intensive care declined from 273 to 255, and those placed on ventilators decreased from 137 to 132.

The Iowa Hawkeyes raced to a 24-7 halftime lead Saturday and hung on for https://www.thegazette.com/subject/sports/hawkeyes/iowa-football/iowa-vs-penn-state-football-score-updates-tv-channel-live-stream-20201121 (a 41-21 win) as Kirk Ferentz became the fourth coach to earn 100 Big Ten wins. The Hawkeyes won their third straight, improving to 3 wins and 2 losses while sending Penn State to 0 wins and 5 losses for the first time ever. Iowa rushed for 175 yards and four touchdowns, with Mekhi Sargent (2), Tyler Goodson and Spencer Petras doing the scoring honors.

Also Saturday, the https://www.thegazette.com/subject/sports/iowa-state-cyclones/iowa-state-vs-kansas-state-football-game-score-20201121 (Iowa State Cyclones pummeled Kansas State) 45-0 and improved to 6-2 overall and 6-1 in the Big 12 to maintain its conference-leading pace.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for the weekend of November 21st and November 22nd.

Your weekend weather will be a sneak preview for the predicted weather pattern for the week to come: colder than the week before, but perhaps a bit calmer on the wind end of things. According to the National Weather Service it will be mostly sunny in the Cedar Rapids area on Saturday with a high near 45 degrees and a calm wind of 5 mph. Saturday night there will be a low of 31 degrees with mostly cloudy skies and a calm wind. On Sunday, it will be partly sunny with a high near 46 degrees, with the wind getting a little bit more excited at 5 to 10 mph. Sunday night it should be mostly clear with a low of about 26 degrees.

Iowa ended the work week with another day with more than 30 deaths from COVID-19, with the state reporting 32 more people died from the disease. With the week not yet over, this already puts it on pace as by far the deadliest week since the pandemic began. 2,159 people have died so far from the novel coronavirus, with more than 500 of those deaths coming in the last 30 days.

Iowa also passed 200,000 positive cases of COVID-19 this week, with more than 50,000 of those cases coming in the past two weeks. Iowa at 11 a.m. Friday reported 4,346 new COVID-19 cases in the previous 24 hours, with a positivity rate of 40.40 percent. It was the 17th day in a row the state’s positivity rate has been 40 percent or above, according to Iowa Department of Public Health data analyzed by The Gazette.

The state on Friday also announced new outbreaks — defined as three or more cases — at 21 more long-term care facilities. Outbreaks are now reported at 117 such facilities in Iowa.

Hospitalizations for the virus continue to hover above 1,400, dropping down to 1,447 as of Friday night. 275 people are currently in intensive care for the virus.

Given ongoing First Amendment issues across Iowa’s public universities — including controversial syllabi, spurned student groups, and contentious social media posts — the Iowa Board of Regents has created a new committee to review its free speech policy and evaluate its campuses’ compliance. Additionally, board President Mike Richards this week tasked the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and University of Northern Iowa presidents to provide an update at the board’s February meeting “on exactly how each institution is protecting free speech on campus and in the classroom.”

Disputes have flared up recently, often between conservative groups seeking recognition and the student body and faculty at the universities who critique the groups’ views as creating an unwelcome campus environment and being out of step with their core values.

A Clive man was found dead in a burning vehicle near Lake Macbride State Park last Sunday.

Johnson County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were called at 11:23 p.m. that night to a vehicle crash near the entrance to Lake Macbride. Deputies found a vehicle that had crashed and was on fire.

The lone occupant of the vehicle — later identified as 21-year-old Connor Moll — died at the scene.

The crash is under investigation by the sheriff’s office, Solon Fire Department, Johnson County Ambulance Service and Johnson County Medical Examiner’s Department.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Friday, November 20th.

The high temperature will drop about 20 degrees from Thursday, but, on the other hand, Friday will be your first non-windy day of the week. According to the National Weather Service, it will be mostly sunny in the Cedar Rapids area on Friday with a high near 52 degrees. On Friday night it will be mostly cloudy, with a low of a crisp 31 degrees, with the light wind of the day calming even further.

Iowa on Thursday reported 4,193 new COVID-19 cases, with a positivity rate of 40.17 percent.

It was the ninth consecutive day Iowa has reported more than 4,000 new cases. It was the 16th day in a row the positivity rate has been 40 percent or above, according to Iowa Department of Public Health data analyzed by The Gazette. Hospitalizations were down slightly — from Wednesday’s 1,527 to Thursday’s 1,516 — after increasing 11 days in a row. 25 people died from the disease on Thursday, bringing the state’s death toll from the disease to 2,127.

Gov. Kim Reynolds and Dr. Caitlin Pedati, the state epidemiologist, said Thursday that as the numbers of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in Iowa have exploded over the past month, their case investigations are focusing on two areas: large household gatherings and outbreaks at senior care facilities.The focus on large family gatherings comes as the Thanksgiving holiday looms on the horizon next week.

Tyson Foods suspended at least two high-level managers Thursday and launched an investigation into reports a manager organized a betting pool among supervisors to wager how many workers at the meat packing plant would get COVID-19 during the early days of the pandemic. The revelations were released through a lawsuit by the families of 4 Tyson workers who died after nearly 1,000 of the 2,800 employees at the Waterloo plant contracted COVID-19 early in the pandemic. In the lawsuit, it is alleged that the supervisors started the pool after downplaying the severity of the disease and pressuring workers into staying on the job despite worsening conditions.

The Waterloo facility is Tyson’s largest pork plant in the United States. It employs about 2,800 workers who slaughter about 19,500 hogs per day.

Mercy Iowa City is notifying more than 60,000 patients that their personal information may be at risk after an unauthorized user gained access to an employee’s email account earlier this year.

Though the hospital has no reason to believe any personal information has been used to commit fraud or identity theft, officials said in a news release this week they are encouraging patients to protect themselves. In a letter to the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, the law firm representing Mercy Iowa City said the hospital determined that 60,473 Iowa residents may be affected.

The forensics security firm contracted by Mercy determined Oct. 3 that the hijacked account contained protected health information and other personal information, including Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers and medical treatment information, among other data.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Thursday, November 19th.

The weather will become pretty nice on Thursday, and sadly stay nice only on Thursday. According to the National Weather Service it will be partly sunny with a high near 68 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area. The breezy conditions of the last several days, with that ever present 15-20 mph wind, will remain for much of the day. That will settle down Thursday night along with the temperature also getting much cooler again, with a low of 39 degrees.

Wednesday kept Iowa on the pace to have by far the most lethal week from COVID-19 the state has seen so far, as another 38 people died from the disease. To put that number in perspective, Iowa has only surpassed 30 deaths in one day on 4 other occasions: 1 of those was in late October, the rest have been in the 7 days. The state’s death toll from the novel coronavirus so far rose to 2,102.

The state reported 3,900 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, with a 41.48 percent positivity rate — the 16th consecutive day the positivity rate has been above 40 percent. IN the one slightly positive note, the state’s hospitalizations did not jump as high as it had in recent days, hovering now at a still record high of 1,527 people hospitalized with the disease.

Most Linn County buildings will be closed to the public, beginning Thursday, in response to the county’s rising COVID-19 numbers. The Linn County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted in favor of the closures during its Wednesday meeting. The Supervisors also passed a mask mandate set to go into effect on Thursday similar to the mask mandate already put in place this week by Gov. Kim Reynolds.

Iowa U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley reported having tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday. The 87-year-old senator said he was still symptom free as of Wednesday, as is quarantining.

Iowa’s Board of Regents announced Wednesday that the tuition rate at the state’s three public universities would remain frozen into the Spring. The Regents said they will revisit a tuition hike for the fall of 2021 later on. The board’s decision leaves the 2020-21 academic year baseline tuition rate for resident undergraduates at $8,073 at the University of Iowa, $8,042 at Iowa State University and $7,665 at the University of Northern Iowa.

The State Board of Education approved new rules Wednesday for secluding and restraining school students, marking a compromise between civil liberty advocates and teachers.

The ACLU of Iowa, which filed a complaint in 2017 after reports showed some students had been secluded for only minor infractions, applauded the new rules. The https://educateiowa.gov/sites/files/ed/documents/2020-11-18%20Chapter%20103.pdf (new) rule, which would go into effect Jan. 20, says seclusion may be used to prevent “an imminent threat of bodily injury,” to prevent serious property damage or when a student’s actions threaten to disrupt the learning environment.

Finally, former Iowa State player Tyrese Halliburton was drafted by the Sacramento Kings in the 2020 NBA draft. Halliburton, who left the Cyclones to go pro after his sophomore season, joined an exclusive group of Iowa college players who have been drafted in the First Round, and was the highest draft pick for an Iowa State player since Marcus Fizer was picked at #4 in the year 2000.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Wednesday, November 18th.

Your Wednesday weather will continue the trend of sunny, breezy days. According to the National Weather Service, there will be a high of 55 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area with sunny skies. A stiff breeze of 15 to 20 mph will gust as high as 30 mph. As a sign that it will warm slightly on Thursday, the low Wednesday night will only be 8 degrees cooler than the high, settling in at 47 degrees.

Following a week where positive COVID-19 cases hit record highs nearly every day in Iowa, the state is seeing more deaths and hospitalizations as a result, despite efforts to mitigate the spread. As of Tuesday evening, 2,064 people had died from the disease, a jump of 39 deaths. 39 is the highest death toll in a single day from COVID-19, breaking the record of 34 deaths set the day before.

State hospitalization numbers also continued to break records Tuesday. Coronavirus-related hospitalizations increased by 118 — the most ever in a 24-hour period — from 1,392 to 1,510. COVID-19 patients in intensive care units increased from 271 to 288, and patients on ventilators increased from 123 to 130.

New cases were down to 3,559 Tuesday, compared to the 4,000 to 5,000 daily positives seen the week before. However, the positivity rate remained at a still dismal 41.46 percent.

At a press conference Tuesday morning Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds again implored Iowans to take the virus seriously, as the spiral of negative numbers threatens to overwhelm the state’s hospital system. On Monday Reynolds placed limitations on attendance of college and high school sporting events, barred indoor group events above 15 people and outdoor events above 30 people, and instituted a limited mask mandate requiring the wearing of masks indoors for those unable to remain socially distant while being indoors for more than 15 minutes-- with several exceptions.

It remains to be seen whether this and other local actions, such as many schools switching to virtual learning, will help to bend the curve of new cases.

Iowa State University is not going to amend its Student Code of Conduct or discipline its College Republicans, https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/education/iowa-state-students-faculty-staff-condemn-administrative-response-to-college-republicans-tweet-20201113 (despite demands )last week from students, faculty and staff following a postelection tweet deemed threatening from the right-wing student group.

The College Republicans at Iowa State on Nov. 7 — the day Joe Biden was declared U.S. president-elect by several media outlets — tweeted “Everyone, you must arm up, expect these people to attempt to destroy your life, the elites want revenge on us.”

Iowa State administrators argued that punishing the group for the Tweet would violate its First Amendment rights.

With more than 93,000 ballots to review and examine in the state’s third-largest county, it could take days to complete a recount in Iowa’s still uncalled 2nd Congressional District race. Republican state Sen. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa still holds a 47-vote lead over Democratic former state Sen. Rita Hart of Wheatland out of the more than 394,000 votes cast in the race.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Tuesday, November 17th.

Your Tuesday weather will be sunny, although still chilly and breezy. According to the National Weather Service, it will be sunny with a high near 52 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area on Tuesday. The temperature will drop further Tuesday night, with a low approaching 26 degrees.

Since states began to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic in March, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has been solidly against requiring masks, even opposing municipalities when they tried to pass mask mandates on their own. On Monday, with COVID-19 hospitalizations multiplying upward, Gov. Reynolds announced a statewide mask mandate, albeit one so limited by exceptions it hardly qualifies as a mandate.

The governor’s new proclamation, effective starting Tuesday and lasting until Dec. 10, mandates the wearing of masks indoors for people above the age of 2, who cannot maintain social distancing, who aren’t related to each other, and who will be spending more than 15 minutes together. Also, this mandate does not apply while a person is eating or drinking at bars, if a person has a disability that prevents them from wearing a mask, or if they are in school or attending religious services.

A good way to understand this mandate is if you are working at a restaurant, you have to wear a mask. If you are eating or drinking at that restaurant, you do not. But maybe, for everyone involved, you should just get carry out and wear a mask while you’re picking it up.

Indoor gatherings are limited to 15 people, while outdoor gatherings are limited to 30 people.

All organized youth and adult sports activities of any size are suspended under the governor’s order — including basketball, wrestling, gymnastics, swimming, and dance and group fitness classes at gyms. However, high school, collegiate and professional sports are allowed to continue.

While high school sports and extracurricular activities are not prohibited, Reynolds said, spectators at games or events are limited to two per student and are required to wear a mask. Restaurants, bars, bowling alleys, arcades, pool halls, bingo halls and indoor playgrounds are required to close at 10 p.m. and cannot host private gatherings of more than 15 people.

In a rare 6:00 address, Gov. Reynolds said she was appealing to Iowans to take the crisis seriously, to practice social distancing, wearing masks, and good handwashing hygiene.

Iowa’s death toll from the novel coronavirus passed 2,000 on Monday, rising to 2,023. The main concern, however, is the surge of hospitalizations, which threatens to overload the state’s hospital capacity. As of Monday night there were 1,392 people hospitalized with the disease. This is about 1,000 more than the typical daily average of COVID patients seen by the state from the height of the first wave in April until the beginning of the recent spike in late September.

The situation has become especially urgent as the arrival of Thanksgiving next week kicks off the holiday travel season.

This is John McGlothlen with the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Monday, November 16th.

The weather today will be sunny, with a high near 53. Also breezy, with a southwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph. Tonight should be mostly clear, with a low around 27.

Iowa Senate Democrats have elected first-term Sen. Zach Wahls of Coralville to be their minority leader in the 2021 session. Wahls said the 18-member Senate caucus will focus on “defeating coronavirus with decisive action supporting essential workers, protecting Iowa families, and assisting small businesses.” Wahls was elected leader, replacing Sen. Janet Petersen of Des Moines, who did not seek re-election. His colleagues elected him during a virtual meeting Sunday afternoon.

The Iowa Hawkeyes dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball as they beat Minnesota 35-0 Friday night, claiming Floyd of Rosedale for the sixth straight season. The Hawkeyes rushed for 235 yards including 142 yards and two touchdowns from Tyler Goodson. Mekhi Sargent added 86 yards rushing and a TD. Zach VanValkenburg tallied three sacks for Iowa and Jack Koerner and Riley Moss both intercepted passes.

The number of patients being treated in Iowa hospitals for the COVID-19 respiratory disease continued to trend in the wrong direction Sunday, with record numbers of people admitted, placed in intensive care or put on ventilators to help breathe. According to public health data, the number of virus patients in Iowa hospitals increased from 1,261 to 1,279 in the 24-hour period ending at 11 a.m. Sunday. Those in intensive care inched up from 246 to 247 and those on ventilators rose from 107 to 115. All are record highs since COVID-19 was first confirmed in Iowa in March. The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics is activating the first phase of its surge plan that includes adding intensive care unit beds. UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Hospital and Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids, and Mercy Hospital in Iowa City, all announced plans last week to preserve staff and personal protective gear by curtailing elective procedures that require overnight stays. Public health data showed that 95 of Iowa’s 99 counties have positivity rates of 15 percent or greater when averaged over 14 days.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for the weekend of November 14 and November 15.

There will be a chance of rain Saturday before settling back into cold and sunny weather on Sunday. According to the National Weather Service, there will be a high near 51 degrees and a moderate wind Saturday afternoon in the Cedar Rapids area. Showers and thunderstorms will become increasingly likely from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday evening. The low on Saturday will be 35 degrees.

On Sunday, the 15-25 mph wind will remain, with gusts as high as 35 mph. Despite the sunny and clear skies it is predicted to be chilly against, with a high of 45 degrees and a low of 30 degrees. It is then predicted to heat up again slightly as next week goes on.

Iowa closed out its worst week of the COVID-19 pandemic so far by again breaking records for single day positive cases and hospitalizations. 5,096 people were positively diagnosed with COVID-19 in a 24-hour period ending at 11 a.m. Friday, the first time that number has exceeded 5,000 in the state.

The positive numbers will likely continue to rise as the disease continues to spread and the state, under the direction of Gov. Kim Reynolds, expands its testing capability. The concerning trend not tied to increased testing, however, is hospitalizations, where Iowa hit a new peak on Friday, with 1,227 hospitalized for treatment of the disease. Patients in intensive care units with COVID-19 also crept upward, with a record 240 COVID-19 patients being treated in the ICU.

In response to growing cases, this week many school districts in the Iowa City and Cedar Rapids area applied for waivers allowing them to teach virtually through the end of November, skipping over the Thanksgiving Holiday that many experts fear will lead to an even more accelerated spread of the disease. City governments are also starting to react and services are changing in response: for example, the Cedar Rapids Public Library will be closing Monday and resuming curbside service.

In a narrow 4-3 ruling, the Iowa Supreme Court on Friday overturned the first-degree murder conviction of a Marion man who authorities say stabbed his former girlfriend 26 times and concealed her body in a roll of carpet for four days.

The court ruled that https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/public-safety/marion-man-faces-life-in-prison-in-fatal-stabbing-of-ex-girlfriend-20180914 (Gregory Davis, 30, who had claimed insanity or diminished responsibility, )will receive a new trial because the trial judge didn’t give an instruction to the jury for the insanity defense with the first-degree murder charge, but the instruction was included with lesser charges jurors could consider also.

The error allowed the jury to wrongly conclude that the insanity defense didn’t apply to first-degree murder, according to the court ruling. Davis’ defense attorney provided ineffective assistance when he failed to object to 6th Judicial District Judge Sean McPartland’s decision to leave out that instruction, the ruling states. https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/public-safety/marion-man-greg-davis-sentenced-to-life-for-killing-his-girlfriend-carrie-davis-in-2017-20190201 (Davis had been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.)

Crews will begin the final pickup of nonorganic storm derecho debris — such as shingles, fences and siding — next week in Cedar Rapids.Residents should have all such debris placed on the curb — separate from tree debris — by Sunday, according to a city news release.

This is the final pass for nonorganic debris, though no cutoff date has been set for pickup of the tree debris left by the Aug. 10 derecho.

So far, crews have picked up about 2.81 million cubic yards of tree debris.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Friday, November 13th.

Friday should be sunny and colder. According to the National Weather Service, there will be sunny skies in the Cedar Rapids area with a high near 40 degrees and a calm wind. The low will be 31 degrees, with the wind picking up just a bit to 5 to 10 mph, foreshadowing the rainy day on Saturday.

Terrible numbers have become commonplace as COVID-19 continues to spread unabated in Iowa. Iowa reported 4,338 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, the fourth-highest number Iowa has seen and the sixth-day-in-a-row above 4,000 new cases. With 8,559 test results reported during the 24-hour period ending Friday, the state’s positivity rate was 50.68 percent, a record high.

The number of people hospitalized — 1,208 — was another record, increasing from Wednesday’s 1,190. Iowa also reported 30 deaths over this time period, the second highest single day total.

Iowa is spending over $3 million in federal aid on 360,000 more COVID-19 test kits and increasing the number of appointments available at each Test Iowa location, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Thursday.

The governor said each Test Iowa site is adding 200 daily appointments to address shortages being reported in various communities, with the expansion bringing available daily appointments at drive-through sites to 1,000 in Des Moines, 840 each in Cedar Rapids, Davenport and Waterloo and 520 in Council Bluffs — a 4,040 daily total with 20,200 tests provided each week Monday through Friday.

Earlier this week Reynolds initiated a limited mask mandate mostly affecting groups above 25. The governor has been reluctant to institute a mask mandate of any kind up to this point, instead emphasizing personal responsibility. The state is also starting a publicity campaign exhorting Iowans to do their part to control the disease.

Republican Congresswoman-elect Ashley Hinson has learned that she tested positive for COVID-19.

Hinson, who won the Nov. 3 election to represent Iowa’s U.S. House 1st District, learned the results of the COVID-19 test Wednesday night. She reports she feels great and is quarantining at her home in Marion until advised otherwise by her physician.

It looks as if it will be December before the winner of Iowa’s remarkably close 2nd Congressional District race will be known with certainty.

Democrat Rita Hart’s campaign said Tuesday it plans to request a full recount of the results.

That means once initial counting — and recounting, in some places — is completed and the votes are officially certified by the state Nov. 30, the nearly 400,000 ballots cast in the race will be counted again.

As of Thursday afternoon, the still-unofficial results showed Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks leading Hart by 47 votes out of 394,383 cast, a margin just a skosh more than 0.01 percent.