Coronavirus

Decisions made at state legislative level prohibit school boards from making local decisions they feel are best for their school districts and encouraging increasingly polarizing views from citizens

Work is underway to “fine tune” the COVID-19 vaccines to make them more effective against emerging variants, but a strategy scientists hope to employ includes offering flu and coronavirus boosters in a single vaccine.

The state public health department has reported new COVID-19 case counts have increased again, reaching 3,847 new infections in the past seven days. Hospitalizations also continued to increase this week.

The East Central Iowa Council of Governments is still looking to allocate low-interest loans to businesses in Eastern Iowa affected by the pandemic or adding jobs that were negatively affected by COVID-19.

2 of 3 judges on the panel said the injunction is moot because COVID-19 transmission rates have lowered

Two years after Iowa’s three public universities made the unprecedented and heart-wrenching pandemic-propelled decision to nix in-person spring commencement ceremonies – a historic rite of passage – all three are resurrecting them this weekend.

At the height of the pandemic, the meat processing industry worked closely with political appointees in the Trump administration to stave off health restrictions and keep slaughterhouses open even as COVID-19 spread rapidly among workers, according to a Congressional report released Thursday.

The state reported 3,172 new coronavirus cases in the past seven days, which is roughly triple the number of new cases reported on April 20. Six weeks ago, Iowa reported 478 new cases.

The University of Iowa Health Care has joined a new Phase 2 clinical trial that will test booster vaccines in various combinations to determine which provide the best immune response against existing and emerging COVID-19 variants.

The Iowa Department of Public Health confirmed four deaths statewide as a result of the coronavirus, the lowest number seen since the early days of the pandemic. However, new infections and related hospitalizations continue to rise across Iowa.

For the first time since the pandemic started, Cedar Rapids Transit will reboot Saturday service. But it’ll still be a while before the city makes a determination on offering long-hoped-for evening hours after COVID-19 paused those plans.

The county reported 305 new cases this week — the highest seven-day total since the 449 cases reported Feb. 16.

Eligible residents who are low- to moderate-income with documented hardship due to COVID-19 are invited to apply for a $1,400 emergency relief payment.

In the past year, federal assistance programs and cost-sharing waivers from private insurance companies for COVID-19 treatments as ended. As a result, financial counselors have seen more clients seeking help with medical debt.

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday that two restaurants cannot collect damages from insurance policies for losing business following the governor’s March 2020 order requiring restaurants to temporarily stop in-person dining amid rising COVID-19 cases.