Gov. Kim Reynolds is waiting until Wednesday to announce what businesses may be allowed to reopen later this week and what restrictions could be extended until the end of the month.

On Monday, the governor indicated that she would make the announcement during her Tuesday press briefing. Instead, Reynolds said that she decided to delay the announcement to give her more time to review data from the Department of Public Health.

State health officials announced 539 new cases of the coronavirus in Iowa Tuesday, increasing the total to 12,912. Reynolds attributed the uptick in new cases to the late reporting of employee testing at a processing plant in neighboring Nebraska, where 319 Iowans tested positive for COVID-19. The testing was done over a three-day period from April 28-30.

During her press briefing Tuesday morning, Reynolds reported 18 additional deaths in Iowa. To date, COVID-19 has claimed 289 lives in the state.

Statistics from the Iowa Department of Public Health show 394 people are currently hospitalized with symptoms of the coronavirus, including 32 in Black Hawk County, 26 in Dallas County, 23 in Linn County, 18 in Marshall County and 16 in Dubuque County. There are 112 patients hospitalized in Polk County, which has the highest number of positive cases among Iowa's 99 counties (2,447). As of Tuesday morning, 57 patients were hospitalized in Woodbury County.

Statewide, 5,618 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 have recovered. A total of 81,288 people have been tested.

Video: Courtesy of Iowa PBS via YouTube

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