READ: White House task force urges Iowa mask mandate to help nursing home outbreaks
DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa should issue a mask mandate to help stem outbreaks in the state's long term care facilities, the White House Coronavirus Task Force recommended this week.
The report, dated Sunday but released by the Iowa Department of Public Health Wednesday, says Iowa is in the "red zone" for new cases—which means more than 100 new cases per 100,000 people last week—with the third highest rate in the country. It also has the 16th highest test positivity rate in the nation, the report continues.
The White House experts for the past several weeks have urged the governor to issue a mask mandate, which Gov. Kim Reynolds has repeatedly and forcefully refused to implement. In this week's report, they say a mandate could help control outbreaks in Iowa's nursing homes.
654 Iowans in long-term care facilities have died from COVID-19, which account for more than half of the total reported deaths due to the virus in the state.
"Establish a statewide mask mandate. COVID-19 is being brought into nursing homes through community transmission," the report states. "Review and improve infection control practices at nursing homes to stop the introduction of COVID-19."
Between August 31 and September 6, 7% of nursing homes had at least one new resident COVID-19 case, 16% had at least one new staff COVID-19 case and 3% had at least one new resident COVID-19 death, the report says.
Reynolds, who is a Republican, has resisted a mask mandate by saying they are not enforceable and that Iowans are taking "personal responsibility." At least 17 states don't require mask mandates and all but one of them have Republican governors, according to a Washington Post analysis of new research.
But some Republican governors have broken rank and required face coverings, like the White House task force recommends. Public health and infectious disease experts widely support masks as a way to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
"Arkansas is a great example in the Heartland where statewide transmission has decreased through mask usage," the White House report to Iowa this week reads.
The task force has previously recommended face coverings and the governor has balked. She has said that she believes it's ultimately up to governors to make decisions about virus mitigation in their states, but that she is in "constant contact" with the White House experts.
Read the full White House report for this week here:
