The Gazette Daily News Podcast

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for the weekend of October 31 and November 1.

Your forecast for this weekend will feature nice and windy weather followed by chilly and windy weather. According to the National Weather Service, it should be sunny with a high near 62 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area on Saturday. It will be windy, though, with winds of 15 to 25 mph gusting as high as 40 mph. On Sunday, it will also be sunny and windy, but the high will be 20 degrees colder, predicted at 42 degrees.

Iowa ended the week with COVID-19 the way it began it: setting records in the wrong direction. The state on Friday reported 2,617 Iowans tested positive for COVID-19, a record for a 24-hour period. The previous record of 2,579 on Aug. 27, had actually been a statistical outlier up until the end of this week, as that was when the state had added the results of antigen tests to its totals when it had not before.

The number of hospitalizations on Friday increased by one, to 606, a record for the fifth day.

Patients being treated in intensive care units increased from Tuesday’s 135 to 152. Fifty-five patients are on ventilators, down one from Thursday’s total.

Without a change in behavior and more emphasis on mitigation strategies to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Iowans are “going to continue to suffer the consequences,” according to an Dr. Jorge Salinas, a leading epidemiologist at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

The situation in Iowa is critical after a spike in viral transmissions has driven the record-breaking number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients statewide, Salinas said. He fears that if nothing is done to slow the spread of the disease, it could overwhelm the state’s hospital system.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, when last asked about the disease, downplayed the threat, saying the state has plenty of hospital capacity remaining. She last held a COVID-19 press conference on Oct. 7, and has spent much of the month on the campaign trail stumping for fellow Republicans.

Iowa City leaders worry a population undercount — confirmed in early reports from the U.S. Census Bureau — will slash federal funding to the growing community.

When counting for the 2020 census wrapped up earlier this month, only 68.5 percent of Iowa City’s estimated population had responded to the national head count, well below the 75.8 percent self-response rate in the 2010 census, the https://www.censushardtocountmaps2020.us/?latlng=41.64707%2C-91.50658andz=12andquery=coordinates%3A%3A41.66111%2C-91.52710andpromotedfeaturetype=citiesandarp=arpRaceEthnicityandbaselayerstate=-1andinfotab=info-rtrselfresponseandfilterQuery=false (U.S. Census Bureau reported.)

Iowa’s other state college towns also were below expected counts. https://www.censushardtocountmaps2020.us/?latlng=42.02586%2C-93.59359andz=12andquery=coordinates%3A%3A42.02660%2C-93.61897andpromotedfeaturetype=citiesandarp=arpRaceEthnicityandbaselayerstate=-1andinfotab=info-rtrselfresponseandfilterQuery=false (Ames), home to Iowa State University, had a self-response rate of 68 percent on Oct. 17, compared with 77.7 percent in 2010, and https://www.censushardtocountmaps2020.us/?latlng=42.51929%2C-92.42235andz=12andquery=coordinates%3A%3A42.52854%2C-92.44171andpromotedfeaturetype=citiesandarp=arpRaceEthnicityandbaselayerstate=-1andinfotab=info-rtrselfresponseandfilterQuery=false (Cedar Falls), home to the University of Northern Iowa, had a 73.9 percent self-response rate compared with 79 percent in 2010.

Iowa City officials told the Gazette that they would consider a special census to recoup lost funding from an undercount.

This is The Gazette Daily News Briefing for Friday, Oct. 30, 2020:

The number of people being treated for COVID-19 in Iowa hospitals set another record Thursday https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/health/iowa-coronavirus-cases-covid-19-hospitalizations-increase-white-house-red-zone-20201029 (for the fourth day in a row) as federal public health officials again urged the state to more aggressively respond to the worsening threat.

By Thursday morning, 605 people were hospitalized for COVID-19 — more than at any time since the disease was confirmed in the state in March.

A White House task force report said that 97 percent of Iowa is now in a hot zone, measured by the number of cases per capita and the percentage of tests that confirm the infection.

The task force said that as of Sunday, 56 of Iowa’s 99 counties were in the worst “red zone” of danger.

The state Thursday also reported another 2,468 new COVID-19 cases bringing Iowa’s total cases to nearly 122,000. Of those, Linn County reported 193 — a record high for the county by far.

https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/health/iowa-coronavirus-cases-covid-19-hospitalizations-surge-20201029 (The situation in Iowa is critical, said epidemiologist Dr. Jorge Salinas.) He’s a leading infection control specialist at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. It’s likely the state’s hospitals will be overrun with sick patients “very soon,” he said https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=759710141275083andref=watch_permalink (in a Facebook Live video) Thursday.

Both Cedar Rapids hospitals have reported an unusually large number of admissions over the past few days but emphasized that hospitals are still equipped to handle other patient care.

Iowa’s top elections official wants Iowans to feel confident in their ability to vote safely and securely in this election.

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate delivered that message of reassurance to Iowa voters at a Thursday news conference at the State Emergency Operations Center at Camp Dodge along with state and federal law enforcement and emergency management leaders.

Pate said his office is working with state and federal partners to strengthen Iowa’s election security and infrastructure, and prepare for any kind of situation that might arise on Election Day.

With early voting underway and Tuesday’s election less than a week away, election-related concerns include hacking attempts, disinformation campaigns by hostile foreign countries, and the avalanche of absentee ballots cast before Election Day.

Pate said his office has been working with multiple state and federal officials, as well as the auditors in Iowa’s 99 counties to ensure a safe and secure election.

Iowa City leaders worry a population undercount in the U.S. Census will slash federal funding to the growing community.

When counting for the 2020 census wrapped up earlier this month, just over 68 percent of Iowa City’s estimated population had responded to the national head count, well below the nearly 76 percent response rate in the 2010 census, thehttps://www.censushardtocountmaps2020.us/?latlng=41.64707%2C-91.50658andz=12andquery=coordinates%3A%3A41.66111%2C-91.52710andpromotedfeaturetype=citiesandarp=arpRaceEthnicityandbaselayerstate=-1andinfotab=info-rtrselfresponseandfilterQuery=false ( U.S. Census Bureau reported.)

Iowa’s other state college towns also were below expected counts.

https://www.censushardtocountmaps2020.us/?latlng=42.02586%2C-93.59359andz=12andquery=coordinates%3A%3A42.02660%2C-93.61897andpromotedfeaturetype=citiesandarp=arpRaceEthnicityandbaselayerstate=-1andinfotab=info-rtrselfresponseandfilterQuery=false (Ames), home to Iowa State University, had a self-response rate of 68 percent, compared with nearly 78 percent in 2010,...

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for October 29th.

Thursday looks to continue our pleasant, if unseasonably chilly, weather trend. According to the National Weather Service, the day should start cloudy before gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 44 degrees. North wind of 10-15 could gust to up 25 mph, so a warm hat and light jacket might be smart to bring along. Thursday night it will drop below freezing, hitting 28 degrees, but the wind will also settle down to 5 mph.

Iowa’s negative COVID-19 trends continued Wednesday. According to the Iowa Covid-19 dashboard, 606 people were hospitalized with the novel coronavirus as of Wednesday evening, another record high. Iowa also reported 1,891 new cases in the 24-hour period ending at 11 a.m. Wednesday, bringing the state’s total of known infections to 119,526 and its seven-day average to 1,413 — another record. The state also reported 22 deaths in 17 counties Wednesday, bringing Iowa’s death toll to 1,680.

The Stoney Point YMCA in Cedar Rapids is for sale as the YMCA of the Cedar Rapids Metro Area struggles with financial challenges brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Stoney Point Y, 300 Stoney Point Rd. SW, has never had a membership base able to sustain a positive bottom line, said Bob Carlson, president and chief executive officer of the YMCA.

It was listed for sale with Skogman Realty on Friday and will continue to offer services, including child care, for the foreseeable future. There are three other YMCA locations in the Linn County area: Helen G. Nassif, Marion and the Marion Independent Fitness Center.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved more than $28 million in derecho relief to Iowans, the agency said Wednesday. More than $19 million of that is via the U.S. Small Business Administration’s low-interest loan program for businesses’ property damage or economic injury or a homeowner’s property damage.

The announcement comes as the deadline to apply for FEMA Individual Assistance and SBA property damage loans looms Monday.

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley still expects Congress to approve another round of pandemic relief, but when that happens could depend on the outcome of the 2020 election.

“I think if Trump wins, Americans are going to get COVID-19 relief sooner because it’ll come before the end of this Congress,” he told reporters Wednesday.

If Democrats win control of the Senate, the Finance Committee chairman expects pandemic relief might not come until after Jan. 3, when a new Congress convenes.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for October 28th.

Your Wednesday weather is looking mild in temperature and calm in development. According to the National Weather Service, it should be sunny with a high of 49 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area on Wednesday. Then on Wednesday night, there will be some increasing clouds with a low of 33 degrees. The wind, deciding to stick with the theme, will also be mild, staying at 5 to 10 mph.

In many ways Tuesday was one of the worst COVID-19 data days in Iowa since the pandemic started, and the numbers continue to have a negative trend. The state set a record for the number of people hospitalized with the virus, at 564 as of Tuesday morning. This was the 10th time this month the state has set a new record for number of hospitalizations. The rolling 7-day average for cases in the state hit 1,329, the highest ever since the pandemic began. There also were 21 deaths reported in the 24-hour period ending Tuesday morning, one of only a few times the state has exceeded more than 20 COVID-19 deaths in a 24-hour period. 1,662 Iowans have died from the disease so far.

Collins Aerospace, Cedar Rapids’s largest employer, saw a 94 percent drop in adjusted operating profit in the third quarter this year compared to the same time period in 2019.

That decline comes as parent aerospace and defense company Raytheon Technologies continues to seek to “significantly reduce structural costs” during the coronavirus pandemic. Collins Aerospace’s adjusted sales https://investors.rtx.com/static-files/f13f9e49-a3d7-457a-a595-036c7fa60339 (were down 34 percent in the quarter) that ended Sept. 30. Adjusted defense-industry sales were up 4 percent, but that was not enough to negate the lack of commercial sales, Raytheon Technologies officials said Tuesday morning in its quarterly earnings call with investors.

There was some potential good news, however, for the Corridor. Some circuit card production will move from Massachusetts to Coralville as part of Boston-area-based Raytheon Technologies’s pivot from https://investors.rtx.com/static-files/9c0fa0c0-de42-48e4-bbc2-e22bf16fb5e6 (high-cost to low-cost manufacturing sites), Raytheon Technologies CEO Greg Hayes said.

After being referred to as a “hate group” and likened to a “white supremacist group,” Students for Life of America now is a “fully recognized student organization” on the University of Northern Iowa campus thanks to an intervening ruling from UNI President Mark Nook. The university’s student government rejected the organization’s application in early October.

Nook’s finding that Northern Iowa’s Student Government was not content-neutral in denying the Students for Life of America application upended the rejection and granted it student org status and thus access to student government funding and promotional methods.

Nook — in an eight-page ruling that found, if left to stand, the student government’s decision would have violated the First Amendment rights. He wrote: “Universities exist to give students and all members of the university community an opportunity to wrestle with a vast diversity of ideas and opinions, to challenge their perception of their own identity and the beliefs and opinions of others, and to grow in their understanding of natural and social systems.”

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This is Nathan Ford with the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Tuesday, Oct. 27.

It will be partly sunny in Cedar Rapids today with a high near 40, according to the National Weather Service.

https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/health/iowa-coronavirus-hospitalizations-record-monday-20201026 (Iowa saw its fifth peak in hospitalizations in the past eight days as hospital admittances for COVID-19 climbed from 541 to 561) as of 11 a.m. yesterday. Seventeen southeast Iowa counties account for 126 of those hospitalizations. Additionally, ICU admissions statewide jumped from 119 to 129 patients, and the number of patients on ventilators inched up from 42 to 45. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it is sending 950,000 COVID-19 rapid point of care antigen tests to the state. The rapid tests can diagnose coronavirus infection in as little as 15 minutes, according to a news release.

With over $1 million in lost revenue, Camp Wapsie, a program of the YMCA, is struggling to refund campers' fees after canceling all its summer programs because of the coronavirus. More than 1,700 campers were registered for Camp Wapsie’s 2020 summer programs, and for the first time since the camp opened 102 years ago, programs were canceled. Families were given three options after camp was canceled: a full reimbursement, donating all or a portion of the money to the camp or putting it toward 2021 programs. Over half of campers' families asked for a refund and others asked for credit for future programs. About 15 percent wanted to donate the money, Camp Wapsie executive director Paul Denowski said. Denowski said the camp is unable to refund all the money at the same time. Five Camp Wapsie employees have been on furlough since September. The financial hardships Camp Wapsie is facing is part of a larger picture of decreased revenue for the YMCA this year. President and CEO of the YMCA of the Cedar Rapids Metro Area Bob Carlson said the YMCA is down 40 percent in its operations this year, and they’re looking for grants and private contributions to help offset some of that loss.

With time running out on the 2020 presidential campaign, https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/government/donald-trump-jr-cedar-rapids-iowa-20201026 (Vice President Mike Pence, former Vice President Joe Biden and Donald Trump Jr. are all headed to Iowa). The younger Trump leads off with a campaign rally for his father, President Donald Trump, tonight in downtown Cedar Rapids. Trump will speak at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, 50 Second Ave. Bridge, at 6:30 p.m. Doors open at 5. Pence is scheduled to return to Iowa on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. for a campaign rally at the Des Moines airport. On Friday, Biden will make his first trip to Iowa since the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses Feb. 3. No details about his visit have been announced.

This is John McGlothlen with the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Monday, October 26th.

For your weather today, snow is likely, mainly before 9 a.m., with a high near 36. Expect winds from the north 10 to 15 mph. New snow accumulation of less than half an inch is possible. Tonight should be mostly cloudy with a low around 24.

Former Cedar Rapids Police Chief Greg Graham died in a Florida plane crash Sunday. Graham became chief of the Cedar Rapids Police Department two weeks before the historic 2008 flood and stayed on the job for four years. https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/public-safety/former-cedar-rapids-police-chief-greg-graham-dies-in-florida-plane-crash-20201025 (He died Sunday when the small plane he was flying crashed). Graham had served on the police force of Ocala, Florida, for 25 years before being hired as chief in Cedar Rapids. After he resigned in 2012 to return to the Ocala force as its chief, he was replaced by Wayne Jerman, the current Cedar Rapids police chief.

The number of people in Iowa hospitalized because of the novel coronavirus hit a new record high of 561 Sunday night. The soaring number of hospitalizations are fueling concerns that hospitals in the state will be hard-pressed by the end of the year to have the capacity to handle patients who suffer some of the disease’s worst symptoms.

In Iowa football, the Hawkeyes lost to the Purdue Boilermakers Saturday. Purdue didn't have its head coach because of COVID-19 or star receiver Rondale Moore for an undisclosed reason, but it had David Bell, and that was enough for a season-opening 24-20 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes. Bell caught three touchdown passes from Aidan O'Connell, including the game-winning 6-yard toss with 2:15 to play. He totaled 121 yards on 13 catches, while O'Connell completed 31 of 50 passes for 282 yards, overcoming interceptions to Matt Hankins and Barrington Wade.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for the weekend of October 24 and October 25.

Your weekend weather will start out calm and cold, and it will transition to remaining cold with some additional rain and snow. According to the National Weather Service forecast there will be a high near 41 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area Saturday with partly sunny skies. On Saturday night it will be mostly cloudy, with a low of 32 degrees.

On Sunday, showers will become likely, mainly after 1 p.m. When it isn’t raining, it will be mostly cloudy with a high near 42 degrees. On Sunday night into Monday there will be a chance that the rain in the area will turn into snow, but this is expected to be a wintry mix with rain later on.

Iowa has broken the record for the highest number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients more than once this past week.

The spike in new novel coronavirus cases in recent weeks has driven a record number of sick patients into hospitals across the state. Over the past week, Iowa continuously has reached new highs in the number of people hospitalized with the virus, topping off at 536 total patients as of Friday morning. Although this has mostly avoided Eastern Iowa in the most recent spike, hospitals could run out of beds if trends continue to worsen.

However, local health officials interviewed by the Gazette said their main concern is not with hospital capacity, or personal protective gear, as was the case earlier in the pandemic. Their main concern is cumulative strain on the state’s medical workforce. Several hospitals in the state are working with reduced workforces due to budget constraints on top of increasing demand.

Local hospital officials report the vast majority of new cases have come as a result of community spread — but not as a result of super spreader events or in public spaces such as restaurants or schools. The primary recent culprit appears to be exposure during large family gatherings, such as weddings.

Iowans who exhaust their standard unemployment benefits and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation no longer will receive State Extended Benefits after Oct. 31, Iowa Workforce Development said Friday afternoon.

State Extended Benefits gives unemployed residents an additional 13 weeks of benefits or 50 percent of the person’s original unemployment benefit total — whichever one is less — after 26 weeks of standard benefits and 13 weeks of pandemic extended benefits.

The program went into effect in May when the 13-week average for the insured unemployment rate rose above 5 percent.

Crews in Cedar Rapids have completed their first pass of collecting tree debris dragged out to the public right of way — a milestone reached in over two months of cleaning up after the hurricane-force derecho that hit the city on Aug. 10. While the initial pass focused on clearing bulky debris piles to make roads more accessible, additional passes will focus on picking up debris from smaller streets such as cul-de-sacs, dead ends and private roads, as well as returning to areas with a high volume of debris that crews missed in the first pass.That work is expected to take crews into the winter months.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for October 23.

I hope you enjoyed the brief sunlight and 70-degree weather Thursday, because that’s all gone. According to the National Weather Service, after a chance for rain Friday morning, it will be cloudy with a high near 43 degrees. It will be breezy throughout the day, with the low temperature settling in again below freezing Friday night, at 27 degrees.

After seeing some widespread COVID-19 growth in Western Iowa, eastern Iowa’s numbers have started to look worse again late this week. Linn County added its second-highest number of positive COVID-19 cases in a 24-hour period Thursday.

The county added 78 new positive coronavirus cases as of 11 a.m., its highest since reporting 83 cases Sept. 4. Its seven-day average of 55 is a record for the county, and Thursday is the third day the average has been over 50, though the average has been climbing for nine days.

Johnson County added 34 new cases for a total of 5,703 and a seven-day average of 23. The county’s positivity rate is 15.45 percent over 24 hours.

Across the state, 1,401 new COVID-19 cases and 16 new deaths were reported, including one death in Linn County. The latest total is the fifth-highest number of cases in Iowa in a 24-hour period since the pandemic began. Iowa’s positivity rate is 21.78 percent over 24 hours.

As a sort of trade off for Iowa’s higher and higher coronavirus numbers with fewer restrictions, Iowa’s unemployment numbers continue to drop. According to Iowa’s Workforce Development Department Thursday, Iowa saw the fewest continuing weekly unemployment claims recorded last week in about seven months.

Continuing claims fell by 4,442, to 41,967, between Oct. 11 and 17 — the fewest continuing claims since the week of March 21. It should be noted, however, that These numbers only capture how many people are actively seeking work and therefore do not necessarily give a full picture of how many people are out of work in the state at the moment.

With less than two weeks until election day and early voting underway, Iowa Democrats are in position to retain the three congressional seats the party currently holds, according to new polling from Monmouth University.

The new Monmouth Poll shows the Democratic candidate in the lead in Iowa’s 1st, 2nd and 3rd Congressional Districts. It also shows a narrowing Republican edge in the 4th District. With the poll having a margin of error of 5 percent, and the lead for the three Democrats hovering between 5 and 10 points, slights shifts and differences in turnout could still make a large difference in the eventual results.

Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans powered past a Democratic boycott Thursday to advance Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination to the full Senate, keeping President Donald Trump’s pick on track for confirmation before the Nov. 3 election. Democratic senators, knowing they were overmatched in votes, decided instead to protest of the GOP’s rush to install Trump’s nominee to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Never has the Senate confirmed a Supreme Court nominee so close to a presidential election. All 12 Republicans on the committee voted in favor of Barrett.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for October 22.

A week that started with snow has transitioned in thunderstorms. Very on brand for Iowa’s weather. According to the National Weather Service, it should warm up to a high of 72 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area Thursday, the warmest day of the week. You might not notice this, however, as it will likely be raining in fits and starts Thursday morning, Thursday afternoon and Thursday evening. The rain should continue until a bit after noon Friday, at which point the cold will begin to return.

More patients were being treated for COVID-19 in Iowa hospitals — and more people in the state died from the disease — in a 24-hour period ending Wednesday than since the novel coronavirus was confirmed here over seven months ago.

The surge in hospitalizations in Iowa and several other states is troubling to public health officials not only because it raises concerns over the availability of beds and equipment, but because the rising number of patients indicates that mitigation efforts are lacking.

Iowa set a record of 534 hospitalizations in a 24-hour period ending at 11 a.m. Wednesday. That eclipsed a record set in the 24-hour period just the day before.

In addition, Iowa public health officials reported a record of 32 COVID-19 deaths in the 24-hour period, with deaths spanning 20 Iowa counties.

New polls released this week from Monmouth University and Emerson College both showed statistical ties both in the presidential race, between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, and the senatorial race, between Theresa Greenfield and incumbent, Joni Ernst. Emerson’s poll had Trump and Ernst both slightly ahead, but within the margin of error, and the Monmouth poll showed ties in both raises, while giving Biden and Greenfield the nod for victory in certain turnout models. Both polls had margins of error of approximately 5 points.

Early voting is already underway in Iowa. Election Day is Nov. 3, just 12 days away

The Iowa Supreme Court, in a narrow 4-3 decision Wednesday, let a state law stand that bars county auditors from filling out voters’ personal information on absentee ballot request forms.

In issuing their opinion, the majority of state justices said challengers to a state law — which was pushed through by the Republican-controlled Legislature in the final hours of the 2020 session — offered no evidence that provisions of House File 2643 will deny any Iowan the right to vote absentee.However, three dissenting justices argued the majority decision failed to take into account the historic COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on county auditors’ ability to keep up with record-breaking requests for absentee ballots while addressing issues of missing or incorrect information.

Voters have until Saturday to supply their county auditors with the needed information to request an absentee ballot. But auditors now are not allowed to use the voter registration system to correct applications as they have before.

The League of Latin American Citizens of Iowa, or LULAC, Iowa’s largest Latino civil rights organization, and Majority Forward, a national nonprofit that supports voter registration, had asked a judge to stop Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate from enforcing the new law, arguing it made voting more difficult.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for October 21.

Wednesday’s weather forecast looks to continue our wet week. According to the National Weather Service, there will be a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 4:00 p.m. Wednesday in the Cedar Rapids area and the chance will continue to rise into Thursday. In the meantime, when it is not raining, it should be partly sunny with a high near 54 degrees. The low temperature, thankfully, will stay above freezing at 44 degrees, so no more snow is likely this week.

COVID-19 hospitalizations hit yet another record high in Iowa on Tuesday.

The number of hospitalizations in the state was at 501 on Tuesday at 11 a.m., according to data analyzed by The Gazette. The number increased from 480 who were hospitalized with the disease on Monday. The previous record high for hospitalizations was 482 on Oct. 14.

ICU patients also went up — from 108 to 122 — and patients on ventilators remained the same at 45.

The University of Iowa — like Iowa State and the University of Northern Iowa — is amending its quarantine practices to align with https://idph.iowa.gov/Portals/1/userfiles/61/covid19/resources/WhenToQuarantine.pdf (updated state public health guidance) that frees business, education, and child care settings from advised quarantine if face coverings were used consistently and correctly during COVID-19 close contacts.

The Iowa Department of Public Health on Sept. 29 announced quarantine no longer is advised if both COVID-19-positive individuals and their close contacts wore face coverings — affecting, among other things, mask-mandatory in-person classes that had been shifting online or forcing students to do so if a classmate or instructor tested positive.

Upon announcing its change per state and county guidance Monday, UI reported it now has no residence hall students in quarantine and three COVID-19-positive students in isolation in its residence system — which is holding space for those needing to quarantine for two weeks or isolate for 10 days.

As Iowa’s coronavirus numbers continue to increase, its unemployment numbers continue to fall.

Iowa’s seasonally adjusted unemployment fell from 6.3 percent to 4.7 percent in September, Iowa Workforce Development said Tuesday morning. That marks the fifth consecutive month with a declining unemployment rate. Unemployment in the state still is higher than in pre-pandemic levels, though. In September 2019, the statewide unemployment rate was at 2.8 percent.

The recovery in employment has varied between industries, with the state seeing a total increase of 6,500 nonfarm jobs in September. Leisure and hospitality added 4,000 jobs, manufacturing added 1,400 jobs and trade, transportation and utilities added 1,400 jobs.

While more Iowans are working than a month ago, many are exiting the labor force. Iowa has 65.1 percent of residents in the labor force, the lowest in at least two decades.