Photo Image: Source
February 3, 2022 | By Jason Clayworth | Axios.com
Gov. Kim Reynolds to end Iowa’s COVID-19 emergency declaration
“Iowa’s public health emergency proclamation will expire Feb. 15 and two websites that track COVID-19 data will be decommissioned, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Thursday.
Why it matters: Iowa is moving past the pandemic and will manage COVID-19 like other infectious illnesses.
State of play: The state’s two COVID-19 tracking websites, coronavirus.iowa.gov and vaccinateiowa.gov, will be decommissioned on Feb. 16, according to Reynolds’ statement.
- COVID-19 data will be reported weekly on the Iowa Department of Public Health website, like how the flu is reported.
- Iowa and health care providers will also continue to report COVID-19 data required by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
What they’re saying: “We cannot continue to suspend duly enacted laws and treat COVID-19 as a public health emergency indefinitely,” Reynolds said in a press release.
- Nearly half of U.S. states have already discontinued their public health proclamations and several more are set to expire in February if they aren’t renewed, she noted.”