The Iowa Board of Medicine met in emergency session by telephone this morning, unanimously passing a resolution asking the governor to issue a statewide shelter-in-place order.
“The concern is that individuals or people are not fully complying with the recommendations for self-isolation,” says Kent Nebel, the board’s executive director, “and that is increasing the risks to both health care providers who are out there providing services and to the public for spread of the virus.”
Governor Reynolds has forbid gatherings of 10 or more and ordered schools and an array of businesses to close and she has repeatedly said those steps are akin to the stay-at-home orders other governors have issued. Six doctors, a nurse and an attorney serve on the Iowa Board of Medicine.
“The board is supportive and believes she’s done an excellent job of establishing appropriate safeguards,” Nebel says, “but as the spread of the virus gets worse, I think they believe that she needs to take one step further and issue a stay-at-home or shelter-in-place order.”
The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports a doctor from the Quad Cities who is a member of the board raised concerns about Illinois residents crossing into Iowa to get away from the restrictions there. The members of the Board of Medicine were appointed by Reynolds or her predecessor, Governor Terry Branstad.
(By Iowa Public Radio’s Natalie Krebs; additional reporting by Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson)