Joni Ernst, in Shut Senate Race, Repeats a Debunked Coronavirus Idea

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Joni Ernst, in Shut Senate Race, Repeats a Debunked Coronavirus Idea

In response to a monitoring undertaking by The New York Occasions, Iowa has had essentially the most new virus circumstances per capita of any stat


In response to a monitoring undertaking by The New York Occasions, Iowa has had essentially the most new virus circumstances per capita of any state over the past seven days. Ames and Iowa Metropolis, residence to the state’s two largest public universities, rank second and fourth nationally amongst metro areas with essentially the most circumstances per capita over the previous two weeks, in line with Occasions information.

Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, has balked at mandating masks be worn statewide, and has been criticized for barring Ok-12 faculties from holding online-only lessons except the virus positivity charge reaches 15 p.c or above of their counties. The state’s current spike in circumstances has occurred as each Ok-12 and school college students returned to campuses.

The governor solely final week ordered bars and nightclubs to shut within the two large college cities. In the meantime, Iowa State College, in Ames, mentioned it will permit 25,000 followers to attend a soccer recreation on Sept. 12, about 40 p.c capability for its stadium.

Ms. Greenfield, a businesswoman who, like her opponent, grew up on a farm, referred to as on Wednesday for a statewide masks mandate, which Ms. Ernst has mentioned ought to be a private selection.

“All of us wish to beat this coronavirus pandemic, restart our financial system, start the college yr safely, and get again to regular,” Ms. Greenfield mentioned. “The science is obvious — one of the simplest ways to do this is that if all of us put on our masks.”

David Yepsen, a former political reporter and columnist at The Des Moines Register, mentioned the coronavirus was only one problem unsettling the electoral panorama in a largely rural state that Mr. Trump simply gained in 2016. Ms. Ernst, who lives in a county of simply 5,700 folks, ought to have a pure benefit over the Des Moines-based Ms. Greenfield, 56, who’s showing on a common election poll for the primary time.

“The governor’s managed to make everybody sad with the uncertainty over faculty openings, closing or not closing bars,” Mr. Yepsen mentioned. “Ernst’s musing about conspiracy theories” about coronavirus performs into that unease, he added.



www.nytimes.com