The Harlan Community School District’s Board of Education late this week, approved the District’s Return-to-learn plan. Parents/guardians have received an email with the plans, which call for on-site learning to resume August 24th. (View the plan HERE) The 22-page return-to-learn plan addresses all seven aspects of the state requirements, including the use of face coverings, which the Board declined to make mandatory except in locations where it is not possible to social distance.

HCSD students will be required to wear face masks when they arrive at school and walk through the crowded hallways. Once in the classroom, if physical social distancing is possible the masks may be removed. The plan also includes social distancing at the elementary level, limiting contact, cleaning high touch points. Water fountains and lockers will be closed off to keep traffic flowing in the hallways.

As with the rest of area schools, officials say their goal is to keep students and staff safe, while at the same time providing the best quality education possible. For those students who choose to attend via remote learning, that option is being offered as well.

The number of positive, confirmed COVID-19 cases has topped 1,000 in Pottawattamie County, Cass County has  two new cases, and Shelby County has five new cases reported since Friday. The IDPH reports (as of 10-a.m. today [Saturday]) the number of cases in Pott. County is 1,002, with 739 having recovered. In Cass County, there are now 36 confirmed cases, with 28 recovered.

Iowa Department of Public Health data shows an increase of 667 positive coronavirus cases and 6 deaths in the last 24 hours. As of 10 a.m. Saturday, IDPH reported a total of 41,627 Iowans testing positive for COVID-19, while 29,459 have recovered and 826 have died. At 10 a.m. Friday, IDPH reported 40,960 positive cases and 820 deaths.

IDPH reports 447,261 Iowans have been tested for the virus. One of 7 Iowans have been tested, while 1 of 76 have tested positive. IDPH reported 5,539 Iowans were tested Friday.

Recent data has shown an increase in coronavirus hospitalizations in the state. IDPH data showed an early peak of hospitalizations at 417 on May 6. Those numbers dropped to a late June total of 118 hospitalizations. Data has shown an increase since then. On Saturday, IDPH reported 220 hospitalized patients, down from 230 the previous day. There are 72 patients listed in intensive care, unchanged from the previous day. There are 28 patients on ventilators, up from 27 the previous day. IDPH reported 30 patients admitted in the last 24 hours, up from 28 the previous day.

In RMCC Region 4 (southwest/western IA): three more people are hospitalized with COVID-19 for a total of eight; four remain in an ICU, there were three new hospital admissions, and one person remains on a ventilator.

Long-Term Care (LTC) data show 22 outbreaks (1 more than Friday), 603 staff/patients have tested positive for the virus, 146 have recovered and 447 have died (six more than reported Friday).

Here is the latest data for confirmed cases and the number of persons recovered from COVID-19, in Cass and surrounding counties, plus any change in the numbers (Highlighted number indicate a change from Thursday):

• Cass: 36 positive cases [2 more than Friday], 28 recovered
• Adair: 20 positive cases [2 less than previously reported], 16 recovered
• Adams: 12 cases (recovered data still not available from the IDPH)
• Audubon: 24 cases [2 more than Friday], (No recovery data available)
• Guthrie: 116 cases, 66 recovered
• Montgomery: 31 cases, 18 recovered
• Pottawattamie: 1,002 cases, 739 recovered
• Shelby County: 130 cases, 125 recovered

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An accident involving a Utility Terrain Vehicle (UTV) in southern Iowa’s Davis County, Friday night, left one person dead and three others injured. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2013 Polaris Ranger driven by 17-year old Isaac Schmucker, of Bloomfield, was traveling west on Jaguar Trail at around 11:30-p.m., when the vehicle left the road and went out of control. The UTV tipped over, ejecting Schmucker,  and his passengers: 19-year old Cora Schmucker; 16-year old Noah Schmucker, and 14-year old Amos Schmucker, all of Bloomfield. None of the occupants wear wearing seat belts.

All were transported to the Davis County Hospital by Davis County EMS.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:50 a.m. CDT

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack says he’s “deeply concerned” about a report showing that the first known coronavirus outbreak at an Iowa meatpacking plant was far more severe than the state publicly acknowledged. Loebsack wrote a letter to Gov. Kim Reynolds requesting information about the state’s response to the outbreak at the Tyson Foods pork processing plant in Columbus Junction. The letter came two days after The Associated Press reported on documents showing Tyson officials told safety inspectors on April 30 that 522 employees were known to be infected. A dozen were hospitalized and two died. But at a May 5 news conference, the Iowa Department of Public Health said that only 221 workers at the plant had tested positive.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a proclamation extending an order that bars and restaurants require patrons to remain at least 6 feet apart to limit spread of the coronavirus. The proclamation signed Friday also extends other requirements, including that bars and restaurants patrons each have seats at a table or bar and that operators maintain “increased hygiene practices.” In addition, the governor’s order extends existing rules for fitness centers, casinos, senior citizen centers and other businesses. Reynolds actions came as Iowa’s online virus tracker showed a total of 820 deaths from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. It also showed 451 new confirmed cases by 10 a.m. Friday from the day before, bringing the state’s total to nearly 41,000 cases.

PLEASANT HILL, Iowa (AP) — A man has been charged with murder after a woman shot in the head early Thursday in a Des Moines suburb died at a hospital. Pleasant Hill police say 25-year-old Bethany Castro, of Des Moines, died Friday morning after being shot the day before in the suburb just east of Des Moines. Police say 32-year-old Phillip Koromah, of Pleasant Hill, had initially been charged with attempted murder, but that charge was changed to first-degree murder after Castro’s death. Officers arrested Koromah after spotting him speeding in a car near where the shooting occurred. He has been held in the Polk County Jail and is awaiting his first appearance in court.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa juvenile has been charged with two counts of animal torture in the brutal deaths of a dog and a kitten. The Animal Rescue League of Iowa says in a news release Friday that the incidents were discovered last week at a Des Moines apartment complex. Animal Services officers called to the complex on July 17 found an adult dog that had been disemboweled but was still alive. The ARL says the dog’s injuries were so horrific that officers immediately euthanized the dog to end its suffering. Later the same day, animal officers were again sent to the complex, where they found an 8-week-old kitten that had suffered a traumatic death.