IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — One of the largest school districts in Iowa is starting the school year with online-only instruction. KRCG reports that the Iowa City school board voted Saturday to conduct all classes virtually for the first two weeks. Classes in the 12,000-student district begin on Sept. 8. The move comes after the state granted the district a waiver earlier in the week allowing for the virtual instruction.

The 14-day average positivity rate in Johnson County, where the district is located, was 13.9% on Wednesday but had risen to 21.1% by Saturday. The threshold Gov. Kim Reynolds has established for schools to seek online learning instead of required classroom lessons is 15%.

The Iowa Department of Public Health has added antigen testing results to its coronavirus reporting, adding more cases to the overall total. As of Saturday (8/29), the IDPH reported 17 additional deaths and 1,081 more positive cases statewide. The COVID-19 dashboard showed (as of 10 a.m.) at total of 63,112 positive cases were reported. There have been a total of 46,394 persons who have recovered from the virus, and 1,108 deaths since the pandemic began. At 10 a.m. Friday, IDPH had reported 62,031 positive cases and 1,091 deaths.

Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Thursday that antigen test results would be added to the state’s coronavirus reporting. The reporting of that new data has caused an increase in the overall number of cases and has caused a slight increase in the state’s positivity rate. IDPH reports a total of 11,785 antigen tests and a total of 1,450 positive cases among those tests. On Friday, there were 11,131 antigen tests and 1,376 positive tests, which means there are 74 positive cases of today’s (Saturday’s) 1,081 cases are attributed to antigen testing. There have been a total of 624,834 individuals tested for COVID-19.

There are 315 Iowans hospitalized with coronavirus, up from 299 the previous day. IDPH reported 91 patients in intensive care, which is the same as the previous day. There are 43 patients on ventilators in the state, up from 41 the previous day. There were 48 patients admitted to the hospital in the last 24 hours, up from 40 the previous day. IDPH reported approximately 3,020 available hospital beds, 455 ICU beds and 780 ventilators available in the state.

In western/southwest Iowa: 10 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19 (compared with 9 on Friday); 5 remain in an ICU and 2 were admitted to area hospitals. Three patients are on ventilators.

There are 37 coronavirus outbreaks reported in Iowa’s long-term care facilities, which is one more than the previous day. IDPH reported 1,168 positive cases and 696 recoveries within those facilities. There have been 595 deaths in Iowa’s long-term care facilities since the pandemic began.

Here are the latest positive case numbers for southwest/western Iowa as of 10-a.m. Saturday (County; Positive Case #’s; number of persons who have (recovered); {deaths since the outbreak began}.

• Cass County: 112 cases; (98); 2 deaths
• Adair County: 50 cases; (21); 1 death
• Adams County: 20 cases; (17)
• Audubon County: 37 cases; (27); 1 death
• Guthrie County: 168 cases; (125); 5 deaths
• Montgomery County: 73 cases; (60); 4 deaths
• Pottawattamie County: 1,597 cases; (1,326); 34 deaths
• Shelby County: 214 cases; (204); 1 death.

Elsewhere in the area:

• Crawford County has 822 positive cases of COVID-19; (715); 3 deaths
• Carroll County, 353; (196); 2 deaths
• Madison County, 161; (103); 2 deaths
• Harrison County, 145 cases; (117); 1 death
• Page County 110; (106);
• Taylor Counties 110 cases; (102); 1 death
• Union County has 93 cases; (68); 3 deaths
• Ringgold County has 31.; (26); 1 death

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A second Iowa judge has ruled in favor of President Donald Trump’s campaign and ordered a county to invalidate at least 14,000 absentee ballot requests. In his ruling Friday evening, Judge Patrick Tott found that Woodbury County elections commissioner Patrick Gill acted improperly when he sent absentee ballot request forms to 57,000 registered voters that had their personal information filled in. About 14,000 have been returned so far.

The Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and other GOP groups sued three Iowa counties. The decision came a day after another judge ruled that Linn County officials also had violated the secretary of state’s directive.

Atlantic Rising could be seen in Atlantic City Park giving out green bags on Thursday, August 27th. Educators from all over Cass County were invited to come to the park and receive theses bags of classroom supplies and treats.

“These projects have been something we have done for a few years now and we always look forward to helping get everyone back to school,” mentioned Atlantic Rising’s Social Chair, Kelsey Beschorner.

“This year has been extremely challenging, and we know there is a lot of unknowns as everyone heads back to school. We want our community to know that we support the educators and students as they begin to navigate these unprecedented times,” mentioned Beschorner.

This year, Atlantic Rising was able to facilitate a school supply drive along with the educator appreciation bags.

“We recognized that this year has been particularly hard on everyone and we knew that we may not be able to collect as many school supplies and donations as in the past. We are so grateful for the continued generosity of this great community,” Beschorner stated.

We would like to send a special thanks to the Cass County ISU Extension Office and Great Western Bank for their parts in these projects. We could not have had the success we did without their help.

If you are interested in joining Atlantic Rising and what they are involved in throughout the year, you can contact Kelsey at 712-243-3017 or kelsey@atlanticiowa.com. The membership application can also be found at www.atlanticiowa.com. Atlantic Rising is sponsored by Cass County Health System and Atlantic Dental Center.