DES MOINES, Iowa – U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne, D-Iowa, emphasized during a tele town hall on Wednesday afternoon that she believes Gov. Kim Reynolds should issue a statewide stay-at-home order.
“As I’m sure many of you know, in these past weeks, Iowa has seen a number of positive cases and an extreme increase in those. As a matter of fact, we’ve quadrupled our cases, and I’m heartbroken that we’ve lost nine Iowans to this disease, one in our district,” she said.
“The impact of this virus is absolutely being felt in our families in our businesses in our schools, our grocery stores, our pharmacies, and across this great state of ours. And our health care workers are bravely working around the clock at our hospitals and clinics to help treat Iowans who are still fighting this illness, and they’re preparing for additional cases. So I’m incredibly grateful for all their hard work,” Axne added.
In recent days, the Iowa Department of Public Health announced that their modeling indicated that the first peek of positive cases could be just a few weeks away. Because of this on Monday, I called on governor Reynolds to take the additional step of ordering a statewide stay at home order. And while I absolutely appreciate all the work that she has done, and that has been done so far to slow the spread. I’ve heard from our healthcare providers on the ground about the shortages they’re already experiencing, And I want our state to take every step we possibly can to flatten the curve and prevent more burdens on our healthcare system.” she argued.
The Iowa Department of Public Health has not said precisely when they expect the peak of COVID-19 cases in the state or how many cases Iowa will see, just that it will come in the next two to three weeks.
Reynolds during her Tuesday press conference at the State Emergency Operations Center said that she can’t lock the state down.
“I can’t lock the state down. I can’t lock everybody in their home. We have to make sure that the supply chain is up and going. We have an essential workforce that has to be available. And so people also have to be responsible for themselves,” Reynolds said.
Caffeinated Thoughts asked Axne’s office if she had reviewed other state stay-at-home orders, with their exemptions, and compared with what Reynolds had already done through her public health emergency declarations to determine if much would change. As of the time of publication, Axne’s office has not responded.
Axne was also joined by Jayne Armstrong, District Director for U.S. Small Business Administration’s Iowa District Office, and Nola Aigner Davis, Health Educator and Public Information Officer at the Polk County Health Department.
Listen below:
