go into a grocery store, the large majority of people are not wearing masks." in mid-november during state's highest virus rate to date, governor reynolds required masks for indoor events with more than 25 people and outdoor events of more than 100 people. on may 20, 2021, at the close of the 89th iowa general assembly, governor reynolds signed into law the vaccine passport ban law which prohibited organizations or local governments from requiring individuals to show proof of receiving a covid-19 vaccination and prevents state and local governments from issuing id cards which would indicate an individual's vaccination status. the law took effect immediately. earlier in may 2021 and based on new guidance from the centers for disease control and prevention as well as the iowa department of public health, governor reynolds signed into law a ban on school districts and local and county governments from requiring masks worn on public property if the individual is fully vaccinated. this law took effect on may 20, 2021. the iowa immunizations registry information system contains a listing of vaccination records of persons fully vaccinated for covid-19. on september 27, 2021, federal judge robert pratt issued a temporary order, which overturned the ban on mask mandates for school districts (iowa code section 280.31), barring governor reynolds and iowa department of education director ann lebo from enforcing the iowa law banning mask mandates for school districts. judge pratt's temporary order will remain in effect until the court issues an order for a preliminary injunction. testing testing site at kirkwood community college in cedar rapids initially, iowa had a low rate of persons testing positive for the coronavirus. upon a recommendation from ashton kutcher, a utah-based company was hired to run iowa's $26 million coronavirus testing program. on april 25, 2020, the first new testing site was launched in des moines under the new initiative testiowa.com. during a may 6, 2020, white house meeting with governor reynolds, president trump responded to the substantially increased coronavirus testing rate that "... all this testing, we make ourselves look bad... we're going to have more cases." on may 14, 2020, governor reynolds announced that the iowa state hygienic laboratory had completed testiowa's validation and could start processing these tests as well. as of may 22, 2020, the testiowa program was operating eight test sites. as of may 22, 2020, researchers at the university of iowa were hoping for a newly developed at-home spit test to be approved within weeks. in august 2020, iowa state conducted targeted testing of students who were symptomatic or had exposures, resulting in a 13.6% positivity rate for the first week of class, and a 28.8% positivity rate for the second week of class. a total of 655 students and 10 staff tested positive during the month of august. between august 18 - september 1, 2020, the university of iowa reported 922 "self-reported positive or presumed positive covid-19 tests" among students, and 13 among employees. impact researchers at iowa state university created a web hub to help track the covid-19 pandemic's impacts on the economy. meatpacking industry iowa's largest industry sector is manufacturing, with food manufacturing constituting the largest subsector. five meat packers dominate the united states with over 80% of the market: jbs, smithfield, cargill, tyson, and hormel. tyson foods plants on april 26, 2020, john tyson, the billionaire heir and chairman of the board of tyson foods which is the second-largest meat packer in the world, stated that nationwide meat shortages were likely due to the covid-19 pandemic. according to liz croston, tyson foods communications manager, they will not reveal the specific number of affected employees at the perry plant until it crosses the threshold of 10% of their workforce, a company policy they've used at other locations. in april 2020, a tyson foods pork processing plant in columbus junction closed down after 148 workers tested positive for coronavirus, and two workers died. the tyson plant in waterloo shut down on april 22 after more than 180 tested positive for the coronavirus. the tyson foods plant at waterloo re-opened on may 7, 2020. on may 8, 2020, black hawk county health officials revealed that 1,031 of the 2,800 workers or 38% at the waterloo plant tested positive for the coronavirus. the entire workforce at the perry tyson foods plant was tested on april 25, 2020. on may 6, 2020, sarah reisetter, deputy director for the iowa department of health, stated that 730 out of a workforce of over 1,200 at the perry tyson foods plant had tested positive for coronavirus and that before closing, 26% of the columbus junction plant and 17% of the waterloo plant had tested positive for covid-19. on may 8, 2020, at sioux city in woodbury county, health officials were conducting extensive testing for the siouxland district health department due to its close proximity to the tyson foods plant at dakota city, nebraska in addition to the testing at the test iowa site. according to tyler brock, deputy director for siouxland district health, no results of the testing will be made public until the iowa state epidemiologist, the state director of health, approves its release to the public. on may 2, 2020, woodbury county had the second highest coronavirus test positive rate at 35% in iowa. on saturday may 16, 2020, the state of iowa through test iowa will test more than 3,000 employees at the two tyson foods plants at storm lake in buena vista county. iowa premium national beef on may 6, 2020, the iowa premium national beef plant in tama was reported having a coronavirus cluster. hormel on may 6, 2020, the hormel plant in osceola was reported having a coronavirus cluster. west liberty foods on may 8, 2020, the west liberty foods turkey packing plant at west liberty announced furloughing one third of their workforce after the sharp decline in demand for turkey products which resulted in a huge oversupply of turkey products in cold storage and that 136 employees out of 994 tested positive for the coronavirus. since farmers will reduce the size of their turkey flocks sent to the plant for 18 weeks beginning in june, the plant will not process turkeys beginning in november 2020 and continuing for four months until spring 2021. upper iowa beef by may 13, 2020, 22 of 150 people associated with an upper iowa beef plant in lime springs, iowa were tested positive for covid-19. unemployment by may 14, 2020, iowa reported record new weekly unemployment claims for eight straight weeks, totaling at 299,098, which represents almost 20% of iowa's eligible workforce. education the university of iowa, iowa state university, and the university of northern iowa are expecting losses from the covid-19 pandemic to exceed $76 million, $89 million, and $28 million, respectively. all three public universities are also considering freezing tuition and fees for the academic year 2020–21. both university of iowa and iowa state university project decreased fall enrollment. on september 28, the university of iowa had received over 450 complaints regarding non-compliance with coronavirus safety measures, including seven reports of failure to isolate or quarantine. iowa city police responded to numerous calls about loud parties, noise, and covid-19-related matters. the university of iowa reported over 2,000 cases since august 16. iowa state university had 1,701 cases since august 1. the university of northern iowa had 163 cases since aug. 17. university officials praised a bar closure in selected counties, set to expire on october 4, for "helping prevent spread among students." on september 29, a group of ras at the university of iowa started a petition for hazard pay, due to duties that included "delivering meals to infected students living on isolation floors", cleaning up biohazardous substances like blood and vomit, and enforcing a one-guest-per-person policy which included breaking up parties of intoxicated or maskless students. on october 6, the state teacher's union said that 39% of iowa's 339 school districts, area education agencies and community colleges, 39% still did not require face coverings. on october 7, "13 iowa counties were over a 15% threshold set by reynolds at which school districts may temporarily shift to online-only instruction." there were 927 children under age 17 and 4,171 educators who tested positive, with 568 of the educators were at risk of serious health complications. elections in iowa's primary elections, polling locations were greatly reduced: for example there were 28 locations instead of the usual 135 in polk county. 55,000 absentee votes were cast in the county. prisons through a statewide prison labor program, prisoners across iowa helped make 98,000 masks, 40,000 gowns, 17,000 face shields, and 24,000 gallons of hand sanitizer within a few weeks. sports due to minor league baseball being shut down and cancelled for 2020, the iowa cubs, a triple-a baseball team in des moines, are exploring making principal park available for concerts and amateur baseball games. softball and baseball games were supposed to begin being carried out again in iowa starting on june 15. nascar cancelled the xfinity series and gander rv & outdoor series 2020 events at iowa speedway in newton, the track opted to replace one of the event's with a second indycar race in which happened to be a doubleheader iowa indycar 250s on july 17–18, and the arca menards series date remains on the calendar the mlb's field of dreams game in dyersville, originally scheduled for august 13, has been rescheduled for 2021 which is to feature the white sox and a team tba later. on august 31, the university of iowa announced pausing its athletics training programs until after labor day on september 7. on august 31, jamie pollard, athletic director at iowa state university, announced that 25,000 fans would be allowed to attend iowa state's opening home football game against louisiana on september 12 and its big 12 conference home opener against oklahoma on october 3, 2020, at jack trice stadium in ames if fans can follow mitigation efforts during the louisiana game. on september 2, pollard stated that no fans will be allowed in jack trice stadium for the september 12, 2020, home opener iowa state vs. louisiana football game. on september 4, pollard estimated an athletics department budget deficit will increase from over $17 million to $30 million because of coronavirus impacts which will result in cutting sports programs in accordance with the patsy t. mink equal opportunity in education act (title ix laws); closing c.y. stephens auditorium, which also requires up to $50 million in renovations; more payroll cuts and layoffs in addition to the department wide actions which have already been implemented saving almost $4 million: suspension of incentives and bonuses along with most coaches and staff receiving a 10% reduction in pay. on september 19, the big ten announced its 2020 season football schedule and that on october 24 the iowa hawkeyes will play their first game at purdue. statistics covid-19 cases in iowa, united states () deaths recoveries active cases and recoveries duplicate tests20202020202120212022202220232023marmarapraprmaymayjunjunjuljulaugaugsepsepoctoctnovnovdecdecjanjanfebfebmarmarapraprmaymayjunjunjuljulaugaugsepsepoctoctnovnovdecdecjanjanfebfebmarmarapraprmaymayjunjunjuljulaugaugsepsepoctoctnovnovdecdecjanjanfebfebmarmarlast 43 dayslast 43 days date# of cases# of deaths 2020-03-010(+0%)0(+0%) 2020-03-020(+0%)0(+0%) 2020-03-030(+0%)0(+0%) 2020-03-040(+0%)0(+0%) 2020-03-050(+0%)0(+0%) 2020-03-060(+0%)0(+0%) 2020-03-070(+0%)0(+0%) 2020-03-080(+0%)0(+0%) 2020-03-097(+0%)0(+0%) 2020-03-1012(+71.43%)0(+0%) 2020-03-1114(+16.67%)0(+0%) 2020-03-1217(+21.43%)0(+0%) 2020-03-1318(+5.88%)0(+0%) 2020-03-1419(+5.56%)0(+0%) 2020-03-1523(+21.05%)0(+0%) 2020-03-1626(+13.04%)0(+0%) 2020-03-1733(+26.92%)0(+0%) 2020-03-1846(+39.39%)0(+0%) 2020-03-1961(+32.61%)0(+0%) 2020-03-2093(+52.46%)0(+0%) 2020-03-21120(+29.03%)0(+0%) 2020-03-22148(+23.33%)0(+0%) 2020-03-23176(+18.92%)0(+0%) 2020-03-24211(+19.89%)1(+0%) 2020-03-25268(+27.01%)1(+0%) 2020-03-26330(+23.13%)2(+100%) 2020-03-27410(+24.24%)3(+50%) 2020-03-28483(+17.8%)4(+33.33%) 2020-03-29575(+19.05%)5(+25%) 2020-03-30633(+10.09%)6(+20%) 2020-03-31702(+10.9%)10(+66.67%) 2020-04-01789(+12.39%)12(+20%) 2020-04-02926(+17.36%)13(+8.33%) 2020-04-031019(+10.04%)18(+38.46%) 2020-04-041169(+14.72%)21(+16.67%) 2020-04-051190(+1.8%)26(+23.81%) 2020-04-061333(+12.02%)26(+0%) 2020-04-071473(+10.5%)28(+7.69%) 2020-04-081607(+9.1%)31(+10.71%) 2020-04-091750(+8.9%)36(+16.13%) 2020-04-101902(+8.69%)39(+8.33%) 2020-04-112088(+9.78%)43(+10.26%) 2020-04-122299(+10.11%)47(+9.3%) 2020-04-132386(+3.78%)53(+12.77%) 2020-04-142473(+3.65%)56(+5.66%) 2020-04-152751(+11.24%)62(+10.71%) 2020-04-162912(+5.85%)67(+8.06%) 2020-04-173382(+16.14%)75(+11.94%) 2020-04-183706(+9.58%)80(+6.67%) 2020-04-194204(+13.44%)88(+10%) 2020-04-204311(+2.55%)95(+7.95%) 2020-04-214487(+4.08%)101(+6.32%) 2020-04-225076(+13.13%)108(+6.93%) 2020-04-235812(+14.5%)118(+9.26%) 2020-04-246290(+8.22%)123(+4.24%) 2020-04-256744(+7.22%)129(+4.88%) 2020-04-267348(+8.96%)137(+6.2%) 2020-04-278028(+9.25%)147(+7.3%) 2020-04-288356(+4.09%)159(+8.16%) 2020-04-299167(+9.71%)172(+8.18%) 2020-04-309705(+5.87%)181(+5.23%) 2020-05-0110330(+6.44%)192(+6.08%) 2020-05-0210851(+5.04%)197(+2.6%) 2020-05-0311299(+4.13%)212(+7.61%) 2020-05-0411640(+3.02%)229(+8.02%) 2020-05-0511987(+2.98%)239(+4.37%) 2020-05-0612404(+3.48%)248(+3.77%) 2020-05-0712881(+3.85%)261(+5.24%) 2020-05-0813098(+1.68%)272(+4.21%) 2020-05-0913441(+2.62%)285(+4.78%) 2020-05-1013906(+3.46%)303(+6.32%) 2020-05-1114449(+3.9%)318(+4.95%) 2020-05-1214883(+3%)331(+4.09%) 2020-05-1315283(+2.69%)345(+4.23%) 2020-05-1415741(+3%)362(+4.93%) 2020-05-1516027(+1.82%)368(+1.66%) 2020-05-1616384(+2.23%)379(+2.99%) 2020-05-1716690(+1.87%)390(+2.9%) 2020-05-1816988(+1.79%)406(+4.1%) 2020-05-1917248(+1.53%)424(+4.43%) 2020-05-2017681(+2.51%)436(+2.83%) 2020-05-2118138(+2.58%)446(+2.29%) 2020-05-2218685(+3.02%)465(+4.26%) 2020-05-2319009(+1.73%)473(+1.72%) 2020-05-2419436(+2.25%)492(+4.02%) 2020-05-2519630(+1%)502(+2.03%) 2020-05-2620443(+4.14%)515(+2.59%) 2020-05-2720703(+1.27%)529(+2.72%) 2020-05-2820972(+1.3%)540(+2.08%) 2020-05-2921320(+1.66%)552(+2.22%) 2020-05-3021720(+1.88%)557(+0.91%) 2020-05-3122022(+1.39%)568(+1.97%) 2020-06-0122386(+1.65%)578(+1.76%) 2020-06-0222698(+1.39%)589(+1.9%) 2020-06-0322955(+1.13%)599(+1.7%) 2020-06-0423416(+2.01%)607(+1.34%) 2020-06-0523822(+1.73%)617(+1.65%) 2020-06-0623972(+0.63%)625(+1.3%) 2020-06-0724350(+1.58%)632(+1.12%) 2020-06-0824696(+1.42%)640(+1.27%) 2020-06-0925062(+1.48%)644(+0.63%) 2020-06-1025355(+1.17%)651(+1.09%) 2020-06-1125737(+1.51%)653(+0.31%) 2020-06-1226109(+1.45%)658(+0.77%) 2020-06-1326448(+1.3%)663(+0.76%) 2020-06-1426629(+0.68%)668(+0.75%) 2020-06-1526779(+0.56%)676(+1.2%) 2020-06-1626953(+0.65%)680(+0.59%) 2020-06-1727349(+1.47%)683(+0.44%) 2020-06-1827707(+1.31%)686(+0.44%) 2020-06-1928207(+1.8%)692(+0.87%) 2020-06-2028429(+0.79%)696(+0.58%) 2020-06-2128838(+1.44%)696(+0%) 2020-06-2229097(+0.9%)698(+0.29%) 2020-06-2329374(+0.95%)702(+0.57%) 2020-06-2429827(+1.54%)702(+0%) 2020-06-2530355(+1.77%)706(+0.57%) 2020-06-2630813(+1.51%)714(+1.13%) 2020-06-2731308(+1.61%)716(+0.28%) 2020-06-2831606(+0.95%)720(+0.56%) 2020-06-2931947(+1.08%)720(+0%) 2020-06-3032234(+0.9%)721(+0.14%) 2020-07-0132736(+1.56%)724(+0.42%) 2020-07-0233240(+1.54%)727(+0.41%) 2020-07-0333854(+1.85%)736(+1.24%) 2020-07-0434379(+1.55%)737(+0.14%) 2020-07-0534691(+0.91%)740(+0.41%) 2020-07-0634832(+0.41%)744(+0.54%) 2020-07-0735266(+1.25%)748(+0.54%) 2020-07-0835888(+1.76%)752(+0.53%) 2020-07-0936544(+1.83%)754(+0.27%) 2020-07-1037345(+2.19%)759(+0.66%) 2020-07-1137962(+1.65%)765(+0.79%) 2020-07-1238332(+0.97%)771(+0.78%) 2020-07-1338518(+0.49%)778(+0.91%) 2020-07-1438948(+1.12%)783(+0.64%) 2020-07-1539482(+1.37%)789(+0.77%) 2020-07-1640201(+1.82%)794(+0.63%) 2020-07-1740736(+1.33%)800(+0.76%) 2020-07-1841122(+0.95%)804(+0.5%) 2020-07-1941474(+0.86%)807(+0.37%) 2020-07-2041748(+0.66%)815(+0.99%) 2020-07-2142048(+0.72%)823(+0.98%) 2020-07-2242430(+0.91%)830(+0.85%) 2020-07-2342941(+1.2%)837(+0.84%) 2020-07-2443387(+1.04%)842(+0.6%) 2020-07-2543751(+0.84%)847(+0.59%) 2020-07-2644138(+0.88%)852(+0.59%) 2020-07-2744385(+0.56%)866(+1.64%) 2020-07-2844621(+0.53%)873(+0.81%) 2020-07-2945240(+1.39%)878(+0.57%) 2020-07-3045711(+1.04%)884(+0.68%) 2020-07-3146131(+0.92%)887(+0.34%) 2020-08-0146587(+0.99%)894(+0.79%) 2020-08-0246886(+0.64%)903(+1.01%) 2020-08-0347061(+0.37%)909(+0.66%) 2020-08-0447342(+0.6%)918(+0.99%) 2020-08-0547796(+0.96%)924(+0.65%) 2020-08-0648380(+1.22%)931(+0.76%) 2020-08-0748776(+0.82%)940(+0.97%) 2020-08-0849239(+0.95%)944(+0.43%) 2020-08-0949420(+0.37%)948(+0.42%) 2020-08-1049640(+0.45%)954(+0.63%) 2020-08-1149952(+0.63%)960(+0.63%) 2020-08-1250306(+0.71%)963(+0.31%) 2020-08-1350744(+0.87%)965(+0.21%) 2020-08-1450971(+0.45%)966(+0.1%) 2020-08-1551,793(+1.6%)973(+0.72%) 2020-08-1652,428(+1.2%)975(+0.21%) 2020-08-1752,722(+0.56%)981(+0.62%) 2020-08-1852,951(+0.43%)989(+0.82%) 2020-08-1953,288(+0.64%)1,006(+1.7%) 2020-08-2054,015(+1.4%)1,014(+0.8%) 2020-08-2155,006(+1.8%)1,021(+0.69%) 2020-08-2255,735(+1.3%)1,031(+0.98%) 2020-08-2356,275(+0.97%)1,036(+0.48%) 2020-08-2456,633(+0.64%)1,044(+0.77%) 2020-08-2557,294(+1.2%)1,052(+0.77%) 2020-08-2658,235(+1.6%)1,067(+1.4%) 2020-08-2759,786(+2.7%)1,083(+1.5%) 2020-08-2860,971(+2%)1,095(+1.1%) 2020-08-2961,749(+1.3%)1,108(+1.2%) 2020-08-3062,720(+1.6%)1,113(+0.45%) 2020-08-3163,328(+0.97%)1,116(+0.27%) 2020-09-0163,919(+0.93%)1,123(+0.63%) 2020-09-0264,645(+1.1%)1,126(+0.27%) 2020-09-0365,523(+1.4%)1,135(+0.8%) 2020-09-0466,614(+1.7%)1,141(+0.53%) 2020-09-0567,642(+1.5%)1,161(+1.8%) 2020-09-0668,291(+0.96%)1,165(+0.34%) 2020-09-0768,684(+0.58%)1,168(+0.26%) 2020-09-0869,139(+0.66%)1,180(+1%) 2020-09-0969,503(+0.53%)1,194(+1.2%) 2020-09-1070,405(+1.3%)1,207(+1.1%) 2020-09-1171,133(+1%)1,211(+0.33%) 2020-09-1271,706(+0.81%)1,217(+0.5%) 2020-09-1372,490(+1.1%)1,218(+0.08%) 2020-09-1472,876(+0.53%)1,224(+0.49%) 2020-09-1573,277(+0.55%)1,234(+0.82%) 2020-09-1674,080(+1.1%)1,237(+0.24%) 2020-09-1775,028(+1.3%)1,251(+1.1%) 2020-09-1876,211(+1.6%)1,260(+0.72%) 2020-09-1977,058(+1.1%)1,264(+0.32%) 2020-09-2077,679(+0.81%)1,265(+0.08%) 2020-09-2178,339(+0.85%)1,274(+0.71%) 2020-09-2278,887(+0.7%)1,286(+0.94%) 2020-09-2379,923(+1.3%)1,294(+0.62%) 2020-09-2481,071(+1.4%)1,302(+0.62%) 2020-09-2582,045(+1.2%)1,307(+0.38%) 2020-09-2682,944(+1.1%)1,311(+0.31%) 2020-09-2783,636(+0.83%)1,314(+0.23%) 2020-09-2884,002(+0.44%)1,320(+0.46%)