Gazette Daily News, February 5
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Friday, February 5.
It will be quite cold Friday, and there will be blowing snow to deal with... but at least there won’t be any new snow to deal with. I’m doing my best to find positives here.
According to the National Weather Service, winds of 15 to 20 mph gusting as high as 30 mph will lead to areas of blowing snow in Eastern Iowa before 4 p.m. It will be mostly sunny, with a high near 15 degrees, although the wind chill with the powerful winds is predicted to drop to 15 degrees below zero. On Friday night the low will be negative one degree, with winds thankfully settling down just slightly.
Travel was a nightmare throughout Thursday after a winter storm created blizzard like conditions. A pileup near Newton closed Interstate 80, motorostists reported being stranded on Highway 151, and traffic on Highway 30 was brought to a standstill by several accidents. Road conditions should improve on Friday, but please limit travel where possible and plan for the unexpected shifting of road conditions that come with blowing snow.
University of Iowa Health Care vaccinated nearly 1,000 Johnson County residents aged 65 and older Wednesday, among the first members of the community to receive the COVID-19 shot as the health care system moves its vaccination effort beyond front line health care workers to focus on the broader general public.
The Iowa City-based health system used up all doses it was allocated this week for the large-scale vaccination effort, an indication to UIHC officials that the event Wednesday was a successful test run of mass clinics they hope to establish throughout Johnson County and beyond.
Iowa continues to have the third-worst vaccination rate per capita in the nation as the state reached a milestone Thursday of more than 5,000 people killed by the virus.
Gov. Kim Reynolds told reporters Thursday that Iowa has been improving its vaccination efforts, which she argued have been slowed in part by lack of available vaccine. Reynolds did concede the state needs to improve its vaccination process.
Reynolds said in response to the confusion and negative feedback in Iowa surrounding the vaccine rollout, the state is setting up a call center and website. The governor said the intent would be for these to be a one-stop shop for COVID-19 vaccination information. These will also be used to allow eligible Iowans to schedule appointments to receive the vaccine, which could still be limited by vaccine availability.
At a time demanding “stability anchored by insightful leadership,” the University of Iowa opted to skip a lengthy and costly search for a new provost by appointing the interim provost to the position permanently. Kevin Kregel, serving as interim provost since July, will become provost and executive vice president Feb. 15, the university announced Thursday.
Kregel last summer took on the provost job temporarily until a successor to Montserrat Fuentes could be hired. Fuentes resigned after one year on the job.
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