Gazette Daily News Podcast, May 18

Today's weather will be cloudy with a 40% chance of showers and a high near 58. Temperatures will dip to around 52 tonight.

The rest of the week sees some clouds but lots of sun as temperatures yo-yo back and forth from the 50s to the 70s leading to a chance of thunderstorms going into the weekend.

Over the weekend, the number of coronavirus cases in Iowa rose to 14,651 total cases and is now in 97 of Iowa's 99 counties. The number of statewide deaths attributed to coronavirus has risen to 351.

Saturday saw the lowest number of new coronavirus cases in Iowa for the week, but included in those numbers was an unfortunate outbreak at a long-term care facility, Wapello Specialty Care in Louisa County, for a total of 36 long-term care facility outbreaks.

Iowa rebuilt its PPE stockpile after deals with unusual sources. In three contracts worth $7.2 million, the state agreed to purchase 1 million isolation gowns and 100,000 clear plastic goggles through Competitive Edge Inc., a Des Moines business that has never sold either. The company supplies promotional items like T-shirts, and has long been a go-to vendor for Republican campaigns buying yard and barn signs.

The governor said Friday the state has started to receive orders that were placed in March, allowing its inventory to be rebuilt. 'Our stockpile is in a good place right now,' Reynolds said.

Is it safe to venture out? We spoke with 3 health experts about the newly reduced restrictions in Iowa. They said there's 3 things to consider for every business you visit. Whether they would be indoors or outdoors (Outdoors is obviously safer), can employees and customers stay at least 6 feet apart, and how much time the outing would entail (with the less time spent the better)?

They also said before you enter a business to do a basic check to note things such as whether staff members are wearing masks and employees are staying at least 6 feet from one another. 

You can find all this and the rest of our coronavirus coverage at our dedicated coronavirus page, TheGazette.com/coronavirus.

Thousands graduated from University of Iowa over the weekend via an online ceremony. Ashton Kutcher showed up via a surprise pre-recorded message for students, fittingly telling them

'Plan on weird (expletive) happening,' He said 'Right now, I'm in quarantine in California. You don't have a graduation. The world's gonna throw curve balls. It's just gonna happen that way. So plan on it happening. Plan on surprises — including who and what you become. Plan on testing new waters and taking risks. Plan on meeting new people — including those you disagree with — without trying to convince them that they're wrong so that you can be right.'

'Plan on weird (expletive) happening,' He said 'Right now, I'm in quarantine in California. You don't have a graduation. The world's gonna throw curve balls. It's just gonna happen that way. So plan on it happening. Plan on surprises — including who and what you become. Plan on testing new waters and taking risks. Plan on meeting new people — including those you disagree with — without trying to convince them that they're wrong so that you can be right.'

After spending the second half of their final semester in online classes and graduating in an online ceremony, they're already well on their way to living out Kutcher's message.

"Are you looking for a job? Corridor Careers dot com is a resource to local job seekers where they can get job tips, sign up for local job alerts, build a resume and more. Check it out at CorridorCareers.com."

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