Gazette Daily News Briefing, December 17th
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Thursday, December 17th.
As the temperature continues to inch up day by day this week, your morning commute might be greeted by some patchy fog Thursday morning. According to the National Weather Service, these areas of fog should mostly recede after 7 a.m. in the Cedar Rapids area. After that, it will be cloudy with a high of 29 degrees. It is then predicted to be mostly cloudy Thursday night, with a low of 19 degrees.
According to a Wednesday proclamation by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Iowa restaurants and bars may return to normal business hours but patrons must still wear masks when not seated for eating or drinking, and groups must maintain social distancing of six feet. The change goes into effect on Thursday,
Reynolds is also relaxing rules over attendance of high school sporting events in the state, allowing all members of a participant’s household to attend. Attendees are still encouraging to maintain 6 feet of distance from each other and to wear masks.
The change comes after an overall decline in hospitalizations and cases in the state in the last month. Reynolds said these changes, coupled with the arrival of the vaccine soon, mean Iowans should be able to do what they can to prevent another surge in the time being.
Speaking of the vaccine, Iowa learned Wednesday the state will receive as much as 30 percent fewer doses of COVID-19 vaccines than previously expected.
The Iowa Department of Public Health made the announcement Wednesday evening after other states had reported they, too, were told by the federal government to expect fewer doses of the vaccine than previously estimated. No reason for the drop in doses was given in a state public health department news release.
Iowa initially expected 172,000 doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines during the month of December, state officials said. A 30 percent reduction would drop that figure to just more than 120,000 doses.
The first doses of the COVID-19 vaccines are being made available to Iowa’s hospital workers and residents and staff at long-term care facilities such as nursing homes.
Tyson Foods has fired seven top managers at its largest pork plant after an independent investigation confirmed allegations that they organized a betting pool on how many workers would test positive for the coronavirus in the early months of the virus.
The company said Wednesday that the investigation, led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, revealed troubling behavior that resulted in the firings at the plant in Waterloo. An outbreak centered around the plant infected more than 1,000 employees, at least six of whom died. The betting allegations were originally revealed in lawsuits brought by families of 4 of the employees who died. They alleged the managers of arranging the betting pool while they encouraged workers to stay on the floor with inadequate safety measures.
In a separate lawsuit reported this week, the children of a man who died of COVID-19 after working at the Tyson plant in Storm Lake are also suing the company, accusing it of inadequate safety measures.
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