It was one year ago, March 8, 2020, when the first cases of the new coronavirus were confirmed in Iowa.
A year later, the COVID-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of roughly 5,500 Iowans. More than 360,000 Iowans have contracted the virus.
The past 12 months have been unlike most in Iowa history. In addition to the virus’ deadly impact, businesses have been devastated, workers have faced extended unemployment or dangerous working conditions, schools closed and tried to figure out re-opening safely, and people have in general been forced to learn how to live in a socially distanced world.
As the pandemic reaches its one-year mark in Iowa, here is a timeline of significant events of the pandemic here:
ONE YEAR
PANDEMIC
OF A
SPRING 2020
MAR
First cases
K-12 schools close
First death
Colleges close
Businesses close
Unemployment soars
Reopening expands
Expert warnings
Packing-plant outbreaks
Reopening begins
Testing expansion
APR
Casinos, recreation venues reopen
Restaurants, gyms, retail stores reopen
Movie theaters, zoos,
museums reopen
Campgrounds,
drive-in theaters reopen
MAY
Reynolds signs into law a requirement that all K-12 schools must offer to all students the option of 100% in-person learning. Reynolds signaled weeks earlier that she planned to push the proposal when state lawmakers returned for the 2021 legislative session. Before the new law, schools had been allowed to create hybrid instruction models that featured half in-person learning and half online instruction.
January 29
In-person school requirement
Custodian Doug Blackmer cleans a desk at the Jesse Franklin Taylor Education Center in Des Moines.
The first cases of the new coronavirus in Iowa are confirmed. Three individuals, all from Johnson County, test positive for the virus. All three were passengers on an Egyptian cruise ship on which there had been a breakout.
Neil and Jeanne Bennett at their home in Iowa City on Sept. 2.
March 8
First cases
SUMMER
Nothing on a stick
JUN
School requirements
JUL
Closing time
AUG
IN IOWA
FALL
SEP
Campaign ramps up
Surge begins
OCT
Face mask requirement
Successful election
NOV
Deadliest day
WINTER
Downward trend begins
DEC
In-person school requirements
JAN
Face mask mandate lifted
FEB
SPRING 2021
One year later
MAR
JIM SLOSIAREK/CEDAR RAPIDS GAZETTE
Iowa’s three public universities — the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and the University of Northern Iowa — announce they are suspending face-to-face instruction and moving to all online instruction for at least two weeks.
University of Iowa
March 11
Colleges close
Reynolds recommends K-through-12 schools close for at least a month, citing the evidence of community spread of the virus. On April 2, she extends the school closures through at least the end of April. On April 17, Reynolds announces schools will remained closed through the end of the school year.
March 15
K-12 schools close
JIM SLOSIAREK/CEDAR RAPIDS GAZETTE
Reynolds orders the closure of many Iowa businesses, and says social gatherings must be limited to 10 or fewer people. The business closures include restaurants, bars, fitness centers, adult day cares, and casinos. Five days later, Reynolds expands her order to salons, barber shops, tattoo parlors, and swimming pools. A few weeks later, on April 6, shopping malls, libraries, amusement parks, playgrounds, campgrounds, bowling alleys, and a number of other businesses are added to the governor’s ordered closures.
March 17
Businesses close
KELSEY KREMER, DES MOINES REGISTER VIA AP POOL
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds
The first Iowan to die from COVID-19-related causes is confirmed. The individual’s name is not publicly released, but is confirmed to be an adult from Dubuque County between the ages of 61 and 80.
March 24
First death
State unemployment claims soar to nearly 41,000 and the state pays out more than $10.6 million, providing a glimpse of the toll the quarantine is taking on Iowa businesses. Accommodation and food services, health care and social assistance, education services, and retail trade were the most impacted sectors, according to the state.
March 26
Unemployment soars
MEG MCLAUGHLIN, QUAD-CITY TIMES
The state confirms 86 cases tied to an outbreak at a Tyson food plant in Columbus Junction. The plant closes temporarily to deal with the outbreak. It is one of many outbreaks that will occur in packing plants over the coming weeks and months across the state. At least eight plants across the state experience state-confirmed virus outbreaks, infecting thousands of Iowans.
April 14
Packing-plant outbreaks
Tyson Foods plant in Columbus Junction.
GARY L. KRAMBECK, QUAD-CITY TIMES
Using federal pandemic assistance funds, the state enters into a $26 million contract with Nomi, a Utah-based private health care company, to provide 540,000 COVID-19 tests over the next five months. The program gets off to a rocky start with initial demand making it hard to get a test, and many Iowans saying they are forced to wait a week or more for results.
April 15
Testing expansion
COVID-19 testing site in Davenport.
JESSICA GALLAGHER, QUAD-CITY TIMES
In a letter to the governor and state leaders, University of Iowa health researchers project the state could see between 263 and 711 virus-related deaths by June 1. The state confirmed 535 virus-related deaths by June 1. Those researchers also warn the governor there is “considerable uncertainty” over COVID-19 projections in the state, and that “prevention measures should stay in place.”
April 20
Expert warnings
On a day when the state has its highest numbers yet of virus-related deaths and cases, Reynolds announces she is lifting restrictions on businesses. Hospitals are allowed to resume elective surgeries, and farmers markets are allowed to reopen.
April 24
Reopening begins
Dawn Kountze Regional Director at Von Maur wheels inventory through the Davenport store.
JESSICA GALLAGHER, QUAD-CITY TIMES
Reynolds declares some businesses can reopen in 77 counties where the virus is not as active, according to state public health data. Restaurants, malls, libraries, race tracks, fitness centers and other retail businesses are able to reopen with social distancing measures in place.
April 27
Reopening expands
Campgrounds, drive-in movie theaters, and tanning facilities are permitted to reopen, as Reynolds continues to loosen restrictions on businesses.
Rebecca and John Davis, of Cedar Rapids, walk through Wildcat Den State Park in Muscatine.
MEG MCLAUGHLIN, QUAD-CITY TIMES
May 6
Campgrounds, drive-in theaters reopen
In the biggest lifting of restrictions on businesses yet, Reynolds declares restaurants, malls, fitness centers, and other retail establishments may reopen. The order leaves bars, movie theaters, casinos, and amusement parks among the few businesses still required to be closed. On the day of this announcement, the seven-day average of new reported virus-related deaths in Iowa is at its highest point yet (12.4) of the pandemic.
May 13
Restaurants, gyms, retail stores reopen
Reynolds announces the last major wave of reopening the state’s economy: Movie theaters, zoos, aquariums, and museums are cleared to reopen. She also announces bars can reopen in roughly another week, on May 28.
Bailey Yoder carries food out to a table on The Tangled Wood's patio in Bettendorf.
MEG MCLAUGHLIN, QUAD-CITY TIMES
May 20
Movie theaters, zoos, museums reopen
Reynolds adds casinos and race tracks, bowling alleys and other entertainment venues to the list of businesses that are allowed to reopen. At this point, the only businesses that remain closed are performance theaters, adult daycare facilities, and indoor playgrounds.
Siouxnami Waterpark in Sioux Center, Iowa.
TIM HYNDS, SIOUX CITY JOURNAL
May 26
Casinos, recreation venues reopen
The annual Iowa State Fair is canceled. It is the Fair’s first cancellation since World War II.
IOWASTATEFAIR.ORG
June 10
Nothing on a stick
Reynolds and the state education department publish education requirements for the coming 2020-2021 school year. Included is a requirement that any school district that wants to go entirely online must be in counties with 15% positivity rates and must get clearance from the state. Many educators, including the state’s largest public teacher union, express frustration with the edict. Some districts, including some of the largest in the state, had planned on starting the school year with 100% online instruction. Eventually, the union and the Iowa City school district sue the state over the order. It creates a showdown between some large school districts and the state that eventually leads to a new state law passed early in the 2021 legislative session.
July 30
School requirements
BRANDON POLLOCK, WATERLOO-CEDAR FALLS COURIER
Teacher Katie Stewart helps first grader Mitchell Fults at Lincoln Elementary in Waterloo, Iowa.
With new cases spiking — driven by young Iowans, specifically college students who have returned to campus for the fall semester — Reynolds orders bars and night clubs closed in six counties, including those that house the state’s largest three universities.They are the first public health orders that re-impose restrictions on businesses since Reynolds began loosening those restrictions in late April.
NICK ROHLMAN/CEDAR RAPIDS GAZETTE
August 27
Closing time
Bar patrons line up in front of The Airliner in Iowa City.
It is difficult to pinpoint the exact date, but around this time, the worst surge of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths in Iowa began. The deadly surge would last roughly three months, with the virus cutting a disastrous swath through the state at rates not seen before or since.
October 1
Surge begins
Healthcare workers at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics help Jaime Humes, a patient with COVID-19 from eastern Iowa, at the hospital in Iowa City.
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA HOSPITALS AND CLINICS
Republican then-President Donald Trump held a campaign rally outside at the Des Moines airport. Very few people who attended wore face masks at the event, which was held as the virus was just beginning its most deadly surge of the pandemic. Then-Vice President Mike Pence held a similar rally at the airport roughly two weeks later. Democratic then-candidate Joe Biden held his lone campaign event in Iowa outside at the Iowa State Fairgrounds at the end of the month, just four days before Election Day. Biden’s event was held drive-in style, with attendees mostly remaining in their vehicles.
President Donald Trump walks the stage as he speaks at a rally.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
October 14
Campaign ramps up
With numerous public health mitigation strategies in place, Iowa conducts what must be considered by all accounts a successful election. With state and county elections officials, candidates’ campaigns and political organizations placing a special emphasis on early voting in order to reduce crowding at polling locations on Election Day, new state records are set for most total votes (1.7 million) and most early votes (1 million). The state also set a new voting record during the June primary.
Precinct volunteer Doug Cambell helps a voter check in Mason City.
CHRIS ZOELLER/ MASON CITY GLOBE GAZETTE
November 3
Successful election
As COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to skyrocket throughout the state, Reynolds issues a partial public face mask requirement --- a mitigation step she had resisted despite pleas from medical and public health professionals throughout the first nine months of the pandemic. She announces the order in what is believed to be the first-ever address from an Iowa governor televised live during the evening.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds holds the first-ever address from an Iowa governor televised live during the evening.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
November 16
Face mask requirement
Just a week before Thanksgiving, on Thursday, November 19, 75 Iowans died of COVID-related causes. It was the deadliest day of the pandemic in the state thus far, according to state data. Another 64 Iowans died on Thanksgiving, the third-deadliest day of the pandemic. The surge was remarkable: over the course of two to three months, the running averages of daily deaths exploded by a factor of 10, from just over 6 per day in late September to more than 60 per day in early December. New cases increased eight-fold, and hospitalizations more than quintupled.
November 19
Deadliest day
Again, the exact date is difficult to pin down because it varies across myriad data. But roughly in late November and early December, the running averages of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths in Iowa all began falling from their tragic peaks. Those trends have continued through today.
December 1
Downward trend begins
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Roughly three months after it was implemented, the state’s partial face mask requirement is lifted by Reynolds. With COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths all falling, Reynolds also lifts the remaining restrictions on businesses and public gatherings. It is later revealed that Reynolds did not consult her state public health department when making the decision.
February 5
Face mask mandate lifted
In a parallel pair of positive trends, the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered throughout Iowa continues to increase while the number of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the state continue to decrease.
March 8
One year later
495 Cases
7 Deaths
6,648 Cases
155 Deaths
12,342 Cases
373 Deaths
9,457 Cases
178 Deaths
15,531 Cases
152 Deaths
20,239 Cases
248 Deaths
23,848 Cases
230 Deaths
38,795 Cases
372 Deaths
102,115 Cases
688 Deaths
50,831 Cases
1,488 Deaths
38,897 Cases
1,010 Deaths
44,703 Cases
570 Deaths
XXX Cases
XXX Deaths
through March 8
through March 8
SOURCE: Erin Murphy/ Lee Enterprises
First vaccine doses given
At roughly 9:30 a.m. on Monday, December 14, David Conway, an emergency room nurse at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, received the first COVID-19 vaccine shot administered in Iowa. For its initial vaccine doses, the state -- with federal guidance -- prioritized hospital workers and residents and staff at long-term care facilities like nursing homes.
December 14
First vaccine doses given
David Conway, who works with COVID-19 patients on a daily basis, was the first individual in Iowa to receive the vaccine.
Andy Abeyta/The Gazette
Downward trend begins