Gov. Kim Reynolds announced the opening of four new Test Iowa sites and a new CDC test plan with the goal of testing at least 2 percent of the Iowa population each month.

In her Wednesday press conference, Reynolds said the new Test Iowa sites will open this week in Sioux Center, Marshalltown and Council Bluffs.

Reynolds also announced the opening of a unique new Test Iowa site in West Burlington, in partnership with Great River Health, to meet the increasing demand for tests in Iowa.

Matt Wenzel, president and CEO of Great River Health in Burlington, said the goal is to get more tests in the hands of clinicians and increase availability.

“At the onset of this global pandemic, we’ve established our Mission at Great River Health,” Wenzel said. “That was and continues to be, to this day, to protect our patients and employees and provide fact-based information to our community.”

Reynolds reminded Iowans that since opening the test criteria up to anyone who wants to be tested, appointments are filling up quickly at all Test Iowa centers. 

“While it is impossible to open a Test Iowa site or send strike teams to every county, it is possible to partner in unique ways by leveraging state, county and local resources to serve the needs of surrounding communities,” Reynolds said.

There have been an additional 601 positive cases of COVID-19 in the state of Iowa, making a total of 18,262 positive cases.

The Iowa Department of Public Health reported 21 additional deaths, for a total of 485 deaths statewide.

4,162 additional people have been tested for COVID-19, for a total of 139,146 tests.

Of those that have tested positive, a total of 9,896 have recovered.

The total amount of positive COVID-19 cases in Story County is 95.