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Iowa early News Headlines: Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2020

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November 18th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:10 a.m. CST

(UPDATED) WOODWARD, Iowa (AP) — Officials say a child has died after being hit by a vehicle in a central Iowa school parking lot. The accident happened around 3:45 p.m. Monday in the parking lot of Woodward-Granger High School in Dallas County. The Iowa State Patrol says 7-year-old Charlie Brewer, of Bouton walked into the path of the vehicle driven by 47-year-old Robert Nevitt, of Perry, and was run over. Medics and Dallas County Sheriff’s deputies responded and found the child dead at the scene.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — As Iowa’s coronavirus outbreak worsens, state officials are collecting information on individual hospitals’ capacity, staffing and resources — but they won’t share it with the public. Cedar Rapids television station KCRG reports that the state gathers and maintains such information on a service called the Iowa Health Alert Network. But the Iowa Department of Public Health won’t allow local health departments to release that information to the public. Only statewide information on hospital capacity and resources is currently shared on the state’s COVID-19 public data portal. The Iowa Department of Public Health did not immediately answer questions Tuesday about why the data on individual hospitals in not publicly shared.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is urging residents to follow her new partial mask mandate, while claiming “there’s science on both sides” about whether face coverings reduce the spread of coronavirus. After months of opposition, Reynolds signed an order Monday that requires people to wear masks in indoor public places under some circumstances. She said that she changed course because the state has seen an exponential increase in the number of people hospitalized with the virus this month. She warned that without action, hospitals will be overwhelmed and people will be at risk of not being able to get medical care of any kind.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The longest-serving Republican senator and third in the line of presidential succession, Iowa’s Chuck Grassley, says he has tested positive for the coronavirus. The 87-year-old Grassley had said Tuesday morning that he was quarantining after being exposed to the virus and was waiting for the results of a test. On Tuesday evening, he tweeted that he had tested positive. Grassley says he looks forward to resuming his normal schedule soon. He hasn’t said how he was exposed, but was in the Senate and voting Monday. By missing votes Tuesday, Grassley broke a 27-year streak of not missing a single Senate vote.