(Radio Iowa) — Governor Kim Reynolds is responding to questions about why she decided NOT to heed the advice of a University of Iowa report on COVID-19. U-I researchers advised the governor NOT to relax social distancing rules, warning the state could suffer a “catastrophic loss of life.” Reynolds says the 77 counties that will partly reopen on Friday are practically coronavirus-free:

Reynolds says she shouldn’t punish half the state when the spike in COVID cases is in just eight more-heavily populated areas.