The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Emergency Use Authorization for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. Iowa will begin receiving shipments of Pfizer doses the week of December 13, based on population size and target populations. Shipments will continue to arrive weekly throughout Iowa.

Today, IDPH is announcing a change in the way we report deaths attributed to COVID-19 to better align with national and state reporting. As we learn more about the virus and testing expands significantly, Iowa like many states has changed its methodology.

The state of Iowa has updated the positive case analysis dashboard on coronavirus.iowa.gov to include new data for total tests, in addition to individuals tested, providing the public more comprehensive testing data that more clearly illustrates recent virus activity and testing volume.  

The Iowa Department of Public Health announced today that 108 water systems in Iowa have been awarded Water Fluoridation Quality Awards from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In addition, five communities (Forest City Water Supply, Glidden Water Supply, Manilla Municipal Service Department, Osage Municipal Water Supply, and  Paullina Municipal Water Supply) have been awarded the 50 Year Award for maintaining continuous community water fluoridation from 1969-2019. For 2019, a total of 1,523 public water systems in 29 states received these awards.

On March 17, 2020, Governor Reynolds issued a Proclamation of Public Health Disaster Emergency throughout the entire State of Iowa due to the community spread of COVID-19. Governor Reynolds has extended this proclamation throughout the pandemic, including the recent extension issued on November 10, 2020. In accordance with the proclamation, the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) is seeking assistance with case investigation and contact tracing to address the increase of COVID-19 cases.