Iowa rolls out new COVID-19 data tool as state reports highest number of new cases

In her daily update Tuesday, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds unveiled a new tool available on the state's COVID-19 website offering Iowans more access to the data behind the state's cases.

Reynolds reported Iowa's largest number of new positive cases of COVID-19 due to several new outbreaks recently identified in the state: 189 new positive cases were confirmed, with 86 of those cases identified at a Tyson Plant. Outbreaks were also found at three more long-term care facilities, she said.

The governor said Iowa Department of Public Health is working with management of each of those facilities to test staff. In the affected health care facilities, IDPH has been working with management to isolate sick residents, assign dedicated staff, and implementing other processes aimed at containment.

Reynolds also reported six deaths, bringing the state's COVID-19 death toll to 49. [

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The governor also gave a demonstration of the new dashboard available on

, which she said includes all the numbers from the daily reports along with breakdowns by region and county. The site also shows epidemic data also referred to as the "epi curve."

Reynolds said at the beginning of her news conference, which was delayed more than 45 minutes, that the site had more visitors than anticipated, but that the dashboard "should be ready to go later this afternoon."