Jefferson County had 20 new cases in the last 10 days https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/01/politics/iowa-task-force-report-coronavirus/index.html White House Covid task force report shows dire warnings to Iowa, the state with the highest case rate this week
(CNN) A White House coronavirus task force report sent to officials in Iowa this week warns of dire new case increases <https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/health/coronavirus-us-maps-and-cases/> across rural and urban areas of the state and calls for a mask mandate, the closure of bars and a plan from universities as the pandemic intensifies in the Midwest. CNN has obtained the 9-page August 30 report for the state, first reported <https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/health/2020/08/31/white-house-coronavirus-taskforce-says-iowa-has-highest-rate-country/3449153001/>by the Des Moines Register, from the Iowa Department of Public Health. The task force releases state-by-state reports each week to governors' offices, and has so far declined to make them publicly available. The report says that Iowa is in the task force-defined "red zone" and warns that the state has the highest rate of cases in the US, which increased by 77.4% from the previous week. "Iowa is in the red zone for cases, indicating more than 100 new cases per 100,000 population last week, with the highest rate in the country. Iowa is in the red zone for test positivity, indicating a rate above 10%, with the 5th highest rate in the country," the report says, an increase in both cases and test positivity over the last week.
