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Gov. Reynolds Relaxes COVID-19 Restrictions, Talks Vaccination Plans
JOHNSTON, Iowa – Gov. Kim Reynolds has relaxed some of the COVID-19 regulations that are part of her emergency proclamation.
During a news conference Wednesday morning, the governor said the new changes will be effective Dec. 17th at 12:01 a.m. and will be in place until January 8th.
They include allowing bars and restaurants to resume normal hours of operations. Groups or households will still be limited to eight people and must be seated when eating or drinking. Social distancing of six feet will also still be required between groups or individuals and masks will be required while patrons are not seated.
Spectators at high school, youth, or adult sporting/recreation/extracurricular events will be expanded slightly to include the members of the participant’s household. It had previously been limited to two people.
The governor also lifted the limitation on the number of people who can be present at gatherings. Six feet of distance must still be observed between groups or individuals at the gathering.
During the news conference, the governor also spoke about the start of COVID-19 vaccinations for Iowa health care workers. She said as of Tuesday, 500 of the state’s front line health care workers had received the Pfizer vaccine.
The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, which is also expected to be given emergency approval by the FDA, could be in the state next Monday according to Kelly Garcia, DHS Director and Interim Director of the IDPH.
Gov. Reynolds said she plans to be vaccinated after healthcare workers and residents and staff of long term care facilities in the state have received their vaccinations.
“I’m confidant that the vaccine is both safe and effective,” Gov. Reynolds said.
She is encouraging Iowans to get vaccinated once the vaccine is available to the public to help create herd immunity from COVID-19 in the state. Reynolds said the Iowa Department of Public Health is working on a new dashboard that will be on https://coronavirus.iowa.gov/ to provide information about how many Iowans have been vaccinated.