Governor Kim Reynolds says there is no cause for panic about the rise in Covid cases in Iowa, especially among children and teenagers, and no need to change the state law which prevents mask mandates in schools.

The governor says Iowa’s Covid vaccination rate is rising — by about a tenth of a percent per day — and Reynolds says she’s leaving it up to Iowans to decide how to manage the virus under the normal course of their daily lives.

Twenty-two percent of Covid cases confirmed by testing in the past week were among Iowans under the age of 18. According to Reynolds, 99 percent of new cases in the state are linked to the more contagious Delta variant of Covid. Reynolds says resources in some Iowa hospitals are being stretched by Covid cases as well as other kinds of health emergencies and workforce issues.