(A-P) – A new report studying the impact of the coronavirus on workers in meat processing plants has found that 87% of people infected were racial or ethnic minorities and that at least 86 workers have died. The report released Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examined more than 16,000 COVID-19 cases at 239 plants in 21 states.

It offers perspective on how the virus devastated U.S. pork, beef and poultry processing plants, but the figures likely understate the problem as Iowa officials declined to participate in the study. The data shows 56% of coronavirus illnesses involved Hispanic workers, 19% were non-Hispanic Blacks and 12% were Asian.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s executive branch has reported receiving 1.4 million donated surgical masks from corporations and a foreign government to help fight the coronavirus. Disclosure filings show the masks came from the Government of Taiwan and one of its U.S. offices, a Chinese auto parts conglomerate, a major apparel company and Iowa’s largest health insurer.

In all, Gov. Kim Reynolds accepted pandemic-related supplies with an estimated total value of $1.33 million as gifts to the state. The most valuable came from Hanesbrands, the North Carolina-based clothing company, which gave 1.2 million of its surgical procedure masks.

Mills County Public Health officials today (Wednesday) report six new, confirmed cases of COVID-19. All of the cases are adults. Two are 18-40 years old, three are 41-60 years old, and one is 61-80 years old. The individuals contracted COVID-19 through community spread and through known contact. The latest additions brings to 43 the total number of cases in Mills County. 33 people have recovered from the virus.

Public Health Administrator Julie Lynes says the additional six positive cases today are a reminder to everyone that we should have a heightened awareness when in public. The Coronavirus is more widespread now than when Governor Kim Reynolds first issued her Public Health Disaster proclamation in March.

“Physical distancing is extremely difficult to maintain when large groups congregate in a confined area,” Lynes says. “Where the Iowa State Fair has been cancelled for the first time since World War II and neighboring counties have either cancelled or heavily modified their county fairs, the Mills County Fair Board is moving forward with the Mills County Fair. ”

Lynes goes on to say, “The Mills County Fair Board has a plan in place and Mills County Public Health has every expectation that the plan is fully implemented and followed. However, I am concerned about what health effects holding the Fair will have on the youth participating and others in attendance. I would encourage the public to use their good judgment when weighing the decision to attend events with large gatherings. If there’s a chance that you are going to be within six feet of someone outside your household, wear a face covering.”

Officials want to encourage all county residents to be safe. Remember that it is more important than ever to practice physical distancing, wash your hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or elbow/upper arm and stay at home when you are ill.

For further statistical data available, in near real time, visit the Iowa Coronavirus webpage at
https://coronavirus.iowa.gov

Officials with the Pottawattamie County said today (Wednesday), “We are sorry to report an additional COVID-19 related death, bringing the county’s total deaths to thirteen. This individual was an elderly man (81>) from Council Bluffs.” PCPH says also, there are now two locations for COVID-19 testing in Pottawattamie County. Please visit www.testiowa.com to schedule an appointment.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports four arrests. Yesterday (Tuesday, July 7), 60-year old Daryl D. Armstrong, of Anita, was arrested on Cass County Sheriff’s Office warrants for (Felony) Stalking, and Violation of No Contact Order. Armstrong was released the following day on $2,300 bond. On Sunday, 42-year old Jennifer Joyce Cohrs, of Lewis, was arrested in Cass County on a charge of OWI 1st Offense. Cohrs was taken to the Cass County Jail and released later that day on her own recognizance.

On Independence Day, 50-year old Craig Allen Griffin, of Atlantic, was arrested on charges of OWI 2nd Offense, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Griffin was taken to the Cass County Jail and released the following day on his own recognizance. Last Friday, Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 26-year old Alfredo Joey Guerrero, of Waukegan, IL, on a Sheriff’s Office warrant for OWI 1st Offense. Guerrero was taken to the Cass County Jail and released later that day on $1,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Many of the nearly 82-hundred absentee ballots cast in yesterday’s (Tuesday’s) special election in Woodbury County were cast in the spring. The election was originally scheduled for April 14th, but Iowa’s secretary of state rescheduled it for July 7th because of the pandemic. Woodbury County Auditor Pat Gill says several hundred people who cast an absentee ballot showed up at their local polling place yesterday (Tuesday). “A lot of them were not too happy,” Gill says. “They honestly had a hard time believing they had already cast their ballot in this election.”

Gill’s office got 10-thousand requests for absentee ballots and eight-thousand ballots were mailed in before the secretary of state decided on March 20th that the election should be pushed back. “I asked him not to do that because we thought there would be confusion,” Gill says. Gill says voters who would not believe they had already cast an absentee ballot were allowed to cast a provisional ballot — or go to the county auditor’s office to check the record of their absentee vote. “We could show them the affidavit that actually contained their signature and some voters actually did that,” Gill says. “…It was something that upset a lot of voters and it was very important to use that we maintain the integrity of elections in Woodbury County because people were believing they were unjustly being turned away from the polling place when they had already voted.”

Just over nine-hundred ballots were actually cast yesterday (Tuesday) at polling sites. A whopping 90 percent of all the votes in the supervisor’s race were cast early by absentee ballot. Early this year Woodbury County Supervisor Jeremy Taylor resigned after a local board determined he was no longer eligible to serve because he’d moved out of the district he was elected to represent. Republican Justin Wright won the race to serve the remaining two years of Taylor’s term.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A judge ordered probation for an Iowa businessman with deep ties to the Republican Party, saying he failed to show genuine remorse for assaulting a woman at his home last year. Judge Michael Huppert rejected a request by David Greenspon for a deferred judgment in the assault, which occurred at Greenspon’s West Des Moines mansion last November. Instead, he said that Greenspon would be convicted of assault with intent to inflict serious injury, and the aggravated misdemeanor would stay on his record even if he successfully completes his one-year probation term. Greenspon is the owner of Competitive Edge, a Des Moines advertising supply company.