Coronavirus

Although the bill doesn’t mention COVID-19, the bill, in general, would ban mask requirements as well as prohibit businesses and government entities from offering incentives to be vaccinated, and include penalties for policies resulting in “forced medical treatment.”

Long-term care facility outbreaks continue to increase as new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are on the decline across Iowa. This latest phase of the pandemic comes as Gov. Kim Reynolds plans to end the coronavirus disaster proclamation that has been in place since March 2020.

Cedar Rapids’ budget for fiscal 2023 includes infrastructure investment in flood protection, streets and utilities capital improvement projects. The budget allocates $1.4 million in federal funds to offset lost revenue from COVID-19 and another $1 million for tree planting

The most recent spike in COVID-19 cases brought an increase in patients at the emergency department, which has resulted in ambulance diversions and turning away patient transfers.

Propelled in part by the wildly contagious omicron variant, the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 hit 900,000 on Friday, less than two months after eclipsing 800,000.

Eight Iowa school districts are violating a judicial order by not reinstating face mask requirements, says a letter sent Friday from the ACLU’s state chapter to those district.

With American hospitals facing a dire shortage of nurses amid a slogging pandemic, many are looking abroad for health care …

With COVID-19 websites shutting down, state public health officials are changing coronavirus reporting

The number of long-term care facilities reporting an outbreak of COVID-19 among staff and residents continued its surge this week, reaching 109 total as of Wednesday. At the same time, new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and positivity rates continue to decline.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pfizer on Tuesday asked the U.S. to authorize extra-low doses of its COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5, potentially opening the way for the very youngest Americans to start receiving shots as early as March.

The number of people hospitalized due to the coronavirus and the number of confirmed infections have dropped in Iowa, but hundreds of people in the state remain seriously ill with the virus, according to state data released Monday.

Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand released a new audit Monday stating that his office did not identify any significant concerns“ about the integrity of COVID-19 data collection and reporting from the state public health department.

State and local governments lost at least $117 billion of expected revenue early in the pandemic, according to an Associated Press analysis, but many are now awash in record amounts of money, boosted partly by federal aid.

Losses in ticket revenue and donations were the primary drivers of Iowa’s $40-plus million budget shortfall. The comeback of those revenue sources leave officials optimistic about the athletics department’s financial future.

As of Wednesday, 86 long-term care facilities in Iowa were reporting a COVID-19 outbreak -- five times the number reporting outbreaks six weeks ago. At the same time, hospitalizations and new cases are declining statewide.