I attended a meeting with city departments heads this morning regarding the coronavirus. The Police Chief has been in communication with county officials and recommends following their guidelines–not the actions take by schools, other libraries, or other public institutions–when it comes to implementing “social distancing”, like cancelling programs and meetings, and other measures to curb the spread of the virus. At this point, the cases in Iowa can be traced to cruise ship in a foreign country. The point at which health officials are likely to begin recommending that institutions and individuals take more extreme action will be when cases appear where the origin is either local or unknown. According to the chief, Iowa health officials predict that the course of the virus in Iowa will become much more clear before the end of the month. Health department recommendations and our own response will develop accordingly.
https://www.polkcountyiowa.gov/health/programs/covid-19/
https://idph.iowa.gov/Emerging-Health-Issues/Novel-Coronavirus