Governor orders more businesses to close

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on Thursday extended existing closures and also ordered the closure of additional retail stores as part of the state’s effort to stem the Coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak.
Reynolds, during her daily news conference, said she was extending existing closures for businesses like bars, restaurants, hair salons and swimming pools to April 7.
She also ordered the closing of retail stores including bookstores, clothing and shoe stores, jewelry stores, luggage stores, cosmetic, perfume and beauty supply stores, furniture stores and florists and home furnishing stores.
Reynolds also asked that all non-essential and elective surgeries be delayed, as long as that doesn’t provide “undue risk” to patients, and she suspended all elective dental procedures.
And she ordered that healthcare insurance companies must reimburse providers for tele-health visits at the same rate as in-person visits to encourage patients to use tele-health more to screen and treat the virus.
As of Thursday afternoon, there were 179 documented cases of the Coronavirus COVID-19 in Iowa. Chickasaw County has yet to have a positive test, but residents are urged to practice “social distancing” as much as possible because the virus can be spread by people who show no symptoms of it.