DES MOINES, Iowa — Gov. Kim Reynolds cited Iowa’s falling number of COVID-19 hospitalizations as the main reason why she decided to roll back public health measures meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Reynolds issued a proclamation Friday that removed the mask requirement for those spending 15 minutes or more in an indoor area within 6 feet of people not in their household. The order also ended limits on the number of customers in a business or a requirement that they stay socially distant. The new rules went into effect on Sunday.
Reynolds went on Fox News’ “Hannity” Monday night to talk about Iowa’s COVID-19 response and her decision to end these coronavirus mitigation measures.
“In November when we hit a brief statewide spike, I spoke directly to Iowans and I said, ‘I need you to work with me. We’re going to implement some mitigation strategies to bring down the hospitalization numbers … We’ll dial up the mitigation efforts now, but when we bring those numbers back down, we’ll roll them back.’ And that’s exactly what I did,” Reynolds told Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
Reynolds implemented COVID-19 restrictions in November when coronavirus infections surged and began pushing struggling hospitals to their limits. There are now 327 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Iowa Monday night, which is roughly an 80% drop from Iowa’s peak in November, according to Iowa Department of Public Health data.
“I have been very consistent in the way that we managed COVID-19,” Reynolds told Hannity. “I told them we’d dial up and dial down accordingly. We’re dialing down, we’re opening up, and we’re going to continue to do everything we can to come back stronger and better than ever.”
However, Iowa still has a seven-day rolling average positivity rate of 26.41%, the highest in the nation, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers.
Reynolds’ decision to end public health measures came as a surprise to some state lawmakers and health officials, especially with the emergence of a new coronavirus variant that spreads more easily and with Iowa having one of the lowest per capita COVID-19 vaccination rates in the country.
Lawmakers who participated in a conference call with Iowa Department of Public Health officials on Monday said they were told Reynolds did not consult with health experts before deciding to lift restrictions.
“We asked the Iowa Department of Public Health if they had input into the governor’s decision to lift the mask mandate on Friday and they said they had not,” said Sen. Liz Mathis, a Democrat who participated in the meeting. “I just can’t understand why the governor would lift that when we still have such a low percentage of vaccinations completed.”
Associated Press reporting contributed to this article.