Government : HELLO HOUSE DISTRICT 75 FROM THE STATE CAPITOL!

Hello District 75,

These are incredible times we are experiencing, and it's having a dramatic effect on everyone - no one is excluded.

On Monday, March 16th, the Iowa House and Senate sent to Governor Reynolds FY 2020 Supplemental Appropriations and Continuing Appropriations bills to temporarily fund the government while we wait for the Coronavirus to run its course through the United States. The Iowa Legislature then paused the session for 30 days as of now. This was done because all 100 representatives and 50 senators come from everywhere in the state and have close contact with dozens of people daily. If one of them had the virus and didn't know it, he or she could easily spread it to many others.

With the situation in the state of Iowa, across the country, and around the world changing hourly, it is hard to stay ahead of this. I have been watching Governor Reynold's daily press conferences to keep up to date, and she and everyone behind the scenes are doing the best they can considering the unprecedented circumstances.

During the press conferences, many people have made uninformed and derogatory comments about the governor via Facebook. Governor Reynolds AND the Iowa Dept. of Public Health, AND the Dept. of Human Services, AND the Department of Education decided to keep child-care facilities open. This has to be done because so many parents work in critical jobs to provide the basic necessities such as health care, emergency services (EMS, police, and fire protection), food production and supply, and manufacturing of critical supplies. Can you imagine what would happen if the shelves in grocery stores were mostly bare or hospitals had a large percentage their employees at home instead of providing critical services?

Other people thought the governor of Illinois was doing a great job shutting down their state. Illinois has four times the number of people of Iowa, but at the time of this writing, over 11.5 times as many Covid-19 cases and nine deaths. The people of Iowa are doing a fantastic job self-isolating, and we are fortunate for this, PTL!

There are websites to go to if you have any questions - https://www.coronavirus.gov and if you want to find out what the Iowa Department of Public Health is reporting, for example which counties have confirmed cases, you can go to https://idph.iowa.gov/Emerging-Health-Issues/Novel-Coronavirus. If these don't help, please let me know and I'll try to find your answer.

We are all on the same team! We have to be supportive of Governor Reynolds and the state agencies, regardless of your political persuasion. We don't know when and how this coronavirus pandemic will end, but we will get through this with the good Lord's help and be better prepared if and when the next crisis occurs. We CAN and WILL beat this with everyone's help!

Please be careful out there!