AMES, Iowa - The Story County Board of Health wants county supervisors to recommend a countywide mask order.
They're concerned about large crowds gathering for college football games. "Up to 50,000 to 100,000 people can invade Ames, from not only all over the state, but from other states," Story County Health Board Chairman Dr. John Paschen told WHO-TV. "And to be quite honest, we're kind of scared."
Paschen says they're also deeply concerned about large numbers of students, up the 30,000, coming back to school at Iowa State University.
The board has sent a letter to county supervisors asking them to issue a mask order.
Governor Kim Reynolds has repeatedly declined to issue a statewide mask order, and the attorney general's office says local communities don't have the authority to issue their own.
Still, mask orders have been issued in the Iowa cities of Muscatine, Dubuque and Iowa City, and in Johnson County.