Iowa goes against CDC guidelines and says people who come into contact with Covid-19 do NOT have to quarantine for 14 days if masks are worn despite spike in hospitalizations

Iowa has broken from coronavirus guidance from the Centers for Disease Control,  announcing Tuesday that a person who comes into close contact with a positive Covid-19 case no longer has to quarantine if they were both wearing masks. 

State officials said the 14-day quarantine is no longer a requirement, despite the federal agency advising that it should be completed even if masks are worn.  

Gov. Kim Reynolds said the rule change was aimed at keeping the state's schools open, even if positive cases are confirmed among students. 

It comes as the state experiences a rise in hospitalizations from the virus, with a 39 percent increase in the past eight days, and the move was criticized by health experts who called on the governor to release evidence to support the new guidance    

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds updates the state's response to the coronavirus outbreak during a news conference Tuesday in which she announced that a person who comes into close contact with a positive Covid-19 case no longer has to quarantine if they were both wearing masks

It comes as hospitalizations in the state continue to increase, concerning the White House

Reynolds claimed the decision was reached after discussions with school superintendents and was hoped to encourage the wearing of masks among students. 

'In some situations, they're having to quarantine a disproportionately high number of students when just a few positive cases have been identified,' she said. 

Iowa does not have a mask mandate for schools so students are under no obligation to wear one.  

The Iowa Public Health Association issued a statement following the announcement in which they questioned the new guidance. 

'Masks, contact tracing, and quarantine are all established best practices in the control of infectious disease outbreaks. They work in concert to protect communities. None supersedes nor negates the need for the others,' the statement read. 

'We ask the Governor to provide the public health evidence that supports her new guidance that diminishes the role of quarantine in the effort to stop the spread of the pandemic in Iowa. 

'As the Governor has said many times over, we are trusting Iowans to do the right thing. The right thing is wearing a mask correctly (covering both mouth and nose) every time, everywhere, and staying home when ill or exposed to COVID-19,' it added. 

Dr. Rossana Rosa, an infectious disease physician with UnityPoint Health, also called on state officials to release the evidence that led to the new guidance. 

'You have to wonder about the intensity of each one of those contacts,' she told the Des Moines Register.  

'Indeed, I think you are actually saying this is a policy perhaps designed to reduce the number of children or people in quarantine, but doesn't seem to be necessarily aimed at reducing the number of cases in our state.

'Honestly, we don't seem to be in a better-off place taking that strategy,' she added.

'The virus has never really been under control in our state. We have been going through a series of surges and plateaus, and each surge has left us with a higher plateau than the previous one. I guess we'll see where the latest strategy will lead us to.' 

Kids wave from on the bus as they prepare to ride home from Sergeant Bluff-Luton Primary School in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, in late August. The quarantine rule change was aimed at keeping the state's schools open, even if positive cases are confirmed among students

The number of patients in ICU has still not reached the peak first seen in May

The number of patients admitted to hospital with coronavirus in Iowa has started to jump

Iowa State Education Association president Mike Beranek added that the state's guidance was 'not consistent with what the scientific community continues to tell us about protecting ourselves, our students and our communities from COVID-19'. 

Iowa health officials have continued to argue the case, however. 

Dr. Caitlin Pedati, the state epidemiologist, said that the policy change was similar to those made in Wyoming and Nebraska. 

She added that data comparing Iowa school districts using face coverings with those that have not had been examined. 

Four schools districts in Sioux County, which leads Iowa in the number of positive tests, were compared. Only one of the districts required masks and it had experienced less spread of the virus than the other three. 

Pedati also highlighted a case from Missouri over the summer where two hairdressers infected with coronavirus did not infect any of their 139 clients after all parties involved wore face masks. 

Iowa state epidemiologist Dr. Caitlin Pedati updates the state's response to the coronavirus outbreak Tuesday and defends the decision to change the quarantine requirements

The change in policy in Iowa is only for non-health care and nonresidential settings, and those who come into contact with an infected person while they are both wearing masks will still be asked to self monitor for symptoms. 

If one of the parties was not wearing a mask, the 14-day quarantine will still be required. 

Those who are currently quarantining because of the previous policy are now allowed to discontinue if they were both wearing masks. 

A face shield is not considered a mask under the guidance. 

The policy does not change the requirements for people that are actually sick, or COVID-positive, to isolate from others. 

The CDC guidance calls on all people who have been in close contact with a person who has Covid-19 to quarantine. 

They define close contact as being 'within 6 feet of someone who has COVID-19 for a total of 15 minutes or more'.  

Despite the loosening of the quarantine policy, on Wednesday the White House said that Iowa's coronavirus outbreak was still in the red zone, according to KCCI. 

The report cited the state's growing number of cases and hospitalizations and recommended a statewide mask mandate. 

Iowa's COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to climb, although have not yet reached the total number seen at the peak in spring.

However, on Tuesday, new hospitalizations in the prior 24 hours surpassed what they were during the first peak. 

In May, there was a high of 559 COVID-19 hospital admissions over a 14-day period.

As of Monday, there were 669 admissions over a 14-day period. 

There are 390 patients hospitalized with the virus, as of Tuesday. That number is up from 376 the previous day and more than 100 patients from ten days ago.

Statewide, hospitalizations have increased 39 percent in the past eight days, according to the Gazette. 

There are 100 patients in intensive care, up from 97 the previous day, yet there are still 35 percent of in-patient beds available and 423 ICU beds available. 

There are 31 patients on a ventilator in the state and 794 more ventilators available. 

Gov. Reynolds said that hospitalizations were being monitored but they were not concerned that systems could become overwhelmed. 

'They have indicated that they still are able to handle what they're seeing,' Reynolds said. 

Nursing homes have again become a major cause for concern in the state. 

The number of outbreaks has risen to 50, more than triple to level from mid-July. 

Gov. Reynolds claimed that despite the rise, the homes were doing better at containing the virus and preventing its spread among residents. 

There have have been 88,555 coronavirus cases in total in Iowa and 1,342 deaths.