DES MOINES, IOWA (April 24, 2020) — Today, the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) has been notified of 521 additional positive cases for a total of 4,445 positive cases. There have been an additional 2,190 negative tests for a total of 27,528 negative tests to date, which includes testing reported by the State Hygienic Lab and other labs.

According to IDPH, an additional 11 deaths were also reported, 278 are currently hospitalized, and 1,604 Iowans have recovered.

Are you an "essential worker" who needs to be on the job? Do you run a "non-essential" business" that's required to close and isn't eligible for a government bailout? When you leave your home is it for "essential travel" or are you engaging in "non-essential activity?" "Essential" versus "non-essential" may be the single most significant word-pairing that's come out of the COVID-19 panic and its associated shutdowns, lockdowns, and shakedowns.

JOHNSTON, IOWA (April 22, 2020) — Spanish-speaking Iowans will now be able to access live translations of important information about the COVID-19 pandemic. Iowa PBS is offering second audio program (SAP) services in Spanish for its coverage of Governor Kim Reynolds' weekday COVID-19 press conferences and Iowa Press Special: Coronavirus episodes.

The precautionary principle, per Wikipedia, is "a strategy for approaching issues of potential harm when extensive scientific knowledge on the matter is lacking. It emphasizes caution, pausing, and review before leaping into new innovations that may prove disastrous."