cthompson@messengernews.net
The Wednesday before Christmas, three men at the Beacon of Hope men’s shelter learned that they tested positive for COVID-19, according to the shelter’s executive director, Steve Roe.
And in the week that followed, four more men tested positive.
“Our guys are getting sick,” Roe said. “We have more testing positive every day and some are pretty sick.”
Roe announced on Wednesday that the shelter has been locked down.
“I feel I have no choice but to go into lockdown,” he said. “No one in and no one out.”
About 32 men stay at the shelter. The oldest resident is in his late 70s. The youngest is about 25.
Dec 30, 2020
The city of Fort Dodge intends to resume rental housing inspections on or about Feb. 1, 2021. The inspections that were cancelled in March 2020 will be the first to be rescheduled. Owners will be notified via USPS mail for this first group of inspections with the goal of transitioning to the preferred communication method of email. The city requests that owners email the city of Fort Dodge at rentalhousing@fortdodgeiowa.org with the following information:
• List of properties owned;
• Owner’s authorized agent, if applicable.
In accordance with the CDC and Webster County Public Health’s guidelines, City employees will wear masks when interacting with the public, will maintain proper social distancing and will frequently sanitize hands in between inspection sites to ensure the safety of all parties involved in the inspections process.
edecious@messengernews.net
A mask mandate passed in a split vote Tuesday by Webster County Supervisors brought the county in line with a similar mandate passed by the City of Fort Dodge in November.
The regulation, first drafted and passed by the Webster County Board of Health Dec. 3, requires masks or face coverings to be worn at all times in most indoor public locations, regardless of how long one is inside or how close one is to others. Tightening the more permissive language of a November mask mandate issued by Gov. Kim Reynolds, it would also require use of masks outdoors when six feet of distance cannot be maintained from others.
-Submitted photo
Frontline healthcare workers this week received some of the first doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine as part of the state’s strategy to distribute vaccines in limited supply.
-Submitted photo
Frontline healthcare workers this week received some of the first doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine as part of the state s strategy to distribute vaccines in limited supply.
As Webster County Public Health ations the first precious shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, the public is urged not to abandon the precautions while Iowa remains on high alert with recent waves of cases.
“While we celebrate the first shipment of vaccine, we are many months away from being able to offer the vaccine to the public,” said Kelli Bloomquist, public information officer. “We must remain vigilant in practicing social distancing, wearing a mask, washing hands and staying home while sick. The vaccine is a historic scientific milestone, but we cannot forget that th
edecious@messengernews.net
Webster County Public Health (WCPH) reported 141 new cases of COVID-19 in the last week, as nine more people died from the virus in the county.
The county’s cumulative case count is now 4,498. With the new cases, WCPH said there were 194 open cases being monitored on Friday. The county has seen 14 deaths in the last 15 days.
Though death and case increases have remained consistent over the last few weeks, the county’s rolling 14-day positivity rate did decrease from over 20% to 16.1%, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health.
COVID-19 testing remains available at multiple sites in Webster County, including the following: