Governor Reynolds says she might issue stay-in-place orders on a district by district basis

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has been using a numerical matrix to determine whether she should issue a shelter-in-place order for Iowans.  Iowa is one of just five states which does not have such an order at this time.

At a news conference Tuesday, Reynolds reported the latest figures--another 102 new COVID-19 cases in Iowa, bringing the total of 1,048.  104 of those diagnosed with COVID-19 were hospitalized and 26 of them died.  On the other hand, a total of 11,670 negative test results have occurred for COVID-19 in Iowa.

Reynolds also took questions from reporters Tuesday, with many questions concerning her decision not to issue the shelter-in-place order.  The governor said her COVID-19 team has divided the state into six regions.  One of the regions--the southeast part of the state--has a "9" rating, with "10" being the trigger for a stay-in-place order.

But the governor also raised the possibility that she might issue orders on a region-by-region basis, meaning Southeast Iowa could be on restrictions, while Northwest Iowa would not be. 

The Iowa Press-Citizen obtained a copy of the shelter-in-place matrix ranking system being used.  It says there are four factors: the percentage of the population over 65 years of age, the percentage of identified cases requiring hospitalization, the infection rate per 100,000 population in the past 14 days, and the number of outbreaks at long-term care facilities.  Each metric is assigned a value, and then those numbers are added up. A sum of 10 or greater on the 12-point scale would trigger a formal shelter-in-place order.

Reynolds on Tuesday told a reporter at the news conference she might issue shelter-in-place orders that would only apply to certain regions rather than the entire state.  The Northeast Iowa region has an 8 ranking, while two western Iowa regions have 6 rankings.