IOWA, USA — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is giving a COVID-19 press conference Wednesday after effectively ending most mitigation efforts across the state last week.
Democratic lawmakers said the Iowa Department of Public Health was not consulted before Friday, when Reynolds rolled back the coronavirus-related restrictions.
To start the press conference, Reynolds noted the state's average positivity rate has hovered at 8.6% for the past two weeks and 6.4% for the past week. There were 292 Iowans hospitalized with COVID-19 Tuesday, the governor noted.
"We know what we need to do and it doesn't require a government mandate to do it," Reynolds said.
"I trust business owners will continue to make decisions on how they operate that is in the best interests of their customers and their employees."
Reynolds continued to defend her decision to scale back mask mandates and other restrictions suggesting, "Individuals can make that choice and they have done so."
