County Supervisors To Hold Weekly Meeting
(Le Mars) — The Plymouth County Board of Supervisors will again hold their weekly meeting in the basement of the Courthouse Annex Building beginning at 9:30 a.m. The county supervisors will review the fiscal year 2019-2020 budget with an amendment and will set a date for a public hearing. County
Recorder JoLynn Goodchild is scheduled to submit the quarterly report, and County Weed Commissioner, Sherwin Lassen will review with the county board and give public notice of identified noxious weeds for publication. County Engineer Tom Rohe will open contractor bids for three different culvert repair projects, and he will submit permits for tile crossing in Fredonia,
Elkhorn, and Johnson Townships.
Monday’s COVID-19 Statistics
(Des Moines) — Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds released the latest numbers with the COVID-19 coronavirus during her Monday morning news briefing. Iowa now has another 123 positive cases for a total of 1,710. Reynolds says the virus
has now been detected in 82 of Iowa’s 99 counties, with the latest confirmation taking place in Cass County. The governor says 16,986 people have tested negative with an additional 981 negative tests added to the sum.
She reports the state laboratories have 3,565 tests available. 142 people are presently hospitalized with the coronavirus, but 741 have recovered for a percentage of 43 percent of recovery. Iowa now has 43 deaths associated with COVID-19 with the latest victims from Linn and Muscatine counties. Reynolds
says of the 1,710 positive cases, about ten percent represent either medical staff personnel or employees at long-term care facilities. Reynolds also gave an update as to the number of cases in each of the regions, including northwest Iowa.
Experts working to develop models to help Iowa public health officials predict and manage the coronavirus pandemic are racing against time. A contract shows the Iowa Department of Public Health and the University of Iowa College of Public Health didn’t reach a formal agreement to work together to create Iowa-specific pandemic models until April 7. The agreement
calls for the college to produce predictive models within two weeks of receiving the department’s coronavirus data, or on another mutually agreed upon schedule. The goal of the models is to help Iowa public health officials and Gov. Kim Reynolds predict the severity of the outbreak and make decisions
about specific mitigation strategies.
Reynolds Say Most Of Coronavirus Victims Are From Nursing Homes
(Des Moines) — Governor Kim Reynolds on Monday reported 43 Iowans have died of COVID-19 so far this spring and 53 percent of those who’ve died of the virus were residents of a nursing home.
There are 444 long-term care facilities in Iowa. State officials have confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks at nursing homes in Washington, Toledo and Cedar Rapids. The governor says new machines that can produce testing results in as little as five minutes are being sent to some of the nursing homes.
The governor issued an order in March that requires nursing home staff to undergo health care screening and have their temperatures taken at the start and end of each shift. Reynolds is thanking nursing home employees for their work.
Reynolds today was asked about potential COVID-19 outbreaks at meat packing plants in Tama and Louisa Counties. She indicated a machine has been sent to one of the plants, but she did not specify which one.
The latest state report indicates 79 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Louisa County. A WEEK AGO, managers of the Tyson plant in Louisa County announced more than two dozen workers had tested positive. Earlier this month, the beef packing plant in Tama temporarily suspended operations after one employee tested positive for COVID-19. Today’s (Monday’s) state report indicates 101 Tama County residents have tested positive for the virus. State officials have identified a COVID-19 outbreak at the Premier Estates nursing home in Toledo, which is in Tama County, but the number of cases associated with the facility has not been made public.
Local Pork Producers Concerned Over Processing Plants Closing Due To COVID-19
(Le Mars) — Calling it a scary time, pork producers like Bill Tentinger of Le Mars are deeply concerned as to what is happening in the pork industry with the spread of COVID-19 causing processing plants to shut down, and what could be a long-term problem. Tentinger, a former president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association and current director with the National Pork Board says the Smithfield plant located at Sioux Falls represents a significant percentage of the pork processing capacity for northwest Iowa pork producers.
Tentinger says the food production system is a fine-tuned machine with everything falling into a specific schedule. He says any interruptions to the scheduled system creates havoc for producers and consumers, alike.
The Plymouth County pork producer says retail outlets may find it difficult to obtain pork products if they relied on either the Smithfield plant in Sioux Falls, or the Tyson Foods plant in Columbus Junction.
Tentinger says pork producers are scrambling trying to find suitable accommodations for either new pigs coming in, or for hogs ready for market, but are forced to wait.
Fareway Grocery Chain Makes Donation
(Boone, IA) – Fareway Stores, Inc. today announced a $200,000 donation to the Iowa Chamber of Commerce Executives (ICCE). The donation provides for $1,000
-2,000 in gift cards to ICCE chamber of commerce members in the communities Fareway serves.
“ICCE’s members have the pulse in their communities on how to best serve their small business members during this time of need,” said Fareway President and CEO Reynolds W. Cramer. “We hope this donation helps small businesses and their employees that are facing challenges during this crisis.”
ICCE will immediately work to distribute Fareway gift cards to its chamber of commerce members. These members will then work to distribute the cards to those in-need over the coming days.
“Our members work diligently every day to strengthen communities throughout Iowa,” said ICCE Executive Director Lane Till. “Through this generous donation from Fareway, our members will have the ability to help support the small businesses that create the heart of each of their communities”.
Fareway has also made donations to chambers in its communities outside of Iowa. Chamber communities that Fareway serves in surrounding states will be contacted directly.
