The state board of health will be able to again meet and advise on public health matters after needing to cancel a meeting due to a lack of members. Reynolds announced seven new appointees to as many vacant seats Friday afternoon. The 11-member advisory board is tasked with providing a forum for developing public health policy in the state. In November, it voted 7-2 in favor of a statewide mask mandate. It was a measure Reynolds had long resisted before COVID-19 cases threatened to overwhelm Iowa's hospitals that month. Five members left the board on June 30, four of which coincided with the end of their terms. Another seat had been vacant since November 2020. That left the board with too few members to meet in mid-July, as state law requires a majority.