Iowa City Today

Iowa City Mayor Bruce Teague has expressed that he would issue a shelter-in-place order for the city if he knew for sure that he had the legal authority to make such a declaration.

“It’s not so much the circumstances,” Teague told Iowa City Press-Citizen. “I think what I’m saying is right now I don’t have a definitive answer that we really have the power.”

Gov. Kim Reynolds has yet to issue a shelter-in-place order despite the rising number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the State of Iowa and a large amount of those cases occurring in Johnson County.

“My preference is that a shelter-in-place order would come from Gov. Reynolds, or through a coordinated county-wide or regional action recognizing that business activities and individual travel is not bound by municipal borders,” Teague told Press-Citizen. “Consistency in messaging is critical to mandate an order of this nature.”

While Reynolds has advised Iowa residents to only go out for essentials and practice social distancing, she told Iowa Public Radio that she can’t lock the state down.

“I can’t lock everybody in their home,” Reynolds told Iowa Public Radio. “We have to make sure that the supply chain is up and going. We have an essential workforce that has to be available.”

Reynolds said the decision to not issue a shelter-in-place order is based on numerous metrics including infection rates, the percent of confirmed coronavirus cases requiring hospitalization, and outbreaks affecting most vulnerable individuals.

Two weeks ago Reynolds said local officials could issue shelter-at-home orders if they thought it was necessary, however she changed her views a few days later.

“We are working with the Attorney General’s Office and looking at the statute, and right now it appears they do not have the authority to issue a shelter-in-place order,” Reynolds said on March 26, as reported by WCF Courier. “That is why we are reaching out to communities on a daily level to walk through with them the metrics we are using to talk them through why we do not think it is necessary to issue a shelter-in-place at this point.”