In Gov. Kim Reynolds’ Thursday press conference, she said her office and the Iowa Department of Public Health are taking county and regional data into consideration when looking at what to open back up after April 30, the end date of when businesses were ordered to stay closed.

As of right now, business reopenings will happen at a regional basis based on county data and metrics, Reynolds said, and they are still deciding what regions and counties will be able to reopen.

Reynolds said the U.S. Department of Treasury provided guidance on how states could use funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or the CARES Act, and that it could be used to further fund the Iowa small business grant relief fund through the Iowa Economic Development Authority. Reynolds said the state has begun funding the backlog immediately.

“We can look at new opportunities to use the funding to help bridge finance the small businesses that have been affected by COVID-19,” Reynolds said. “Between the Paycheck Protection Program through the CARES Act and the Iowa Economic Development Authority has been able to do with the grants, we will continue to see where else we can be helpful within the small businesses.”

There are no new positive counties, so the county count still stands at 84. As of Wednesday, Reynolds said 11 of the 99 Iowa counties accounted for 81 percent of all COVID-19 cases, while five counties alone hold 52 percent of the state’s positive cases. Fifty-one counties have up to four cases each. Reynolds said Iowa currently holds a 34 percent recovery rate among all Iowans who have been diagnosed with the virus.

Reynolds confirmed a new outbreak at another long-term care facility in Linn County, bringing the state total to 12 long-term care facilities that are experiencing widespread infections.

“The Department of Public Health has been collecting data through diagnostic testing and contact tracing that allows us to better understand the virus and its impact on Iowans and to help us mitigate it,” Reynolds said.

With this testing process, officials can identify areas of concern early with the intent of minimizing the impact of the virus among vulnerable populations and the essential workforce. The data also helps to identify areas of opportunity, Reynolds said — just as data is used to close schools and businesses to target efforts on slowing the virus, it can also be used to reopen the state in a measured and responsible way while continuing to manage virus activity going forward.

Reynolds announced the launch of Test Iowa on Tuesday, a $26 million public/private partnership that will work to bring mass COVID-19 testing to Iowa in addition to federal assistance and was awarded in a no-bid contract, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reports. The partnership is between the state of Iowa and Silicon Slopes technology companies Domo, Qualtrics, and NomiHealth.

Within the first two days of the launch of Test Iowa, more than 121,000 Iowans have completed the online assessment which helps determine if they’re eligible for testing. Reynolds said testing appointments for this weekend are completely filled up, but called this week a soft launch of the testing program, and said more testing will become available in the coming weeks for those who are eligible.

She said that although Test Iowa is a Utah-based company, it does have an Iowa touch. She said she had spoken to Ashton Kutcher, an Iowa native, about doing a PSA, and during the conversation Kutcher mentioned the success that Test Utah had made and recommended that other states take a look at it and further connected her to the Test Utah team.

Asked about whether Reynolds had considered health-care providers or companies based within Iowa to pursue partnerships in the state’s COVID-19 response. She mentioned Iowa officials were working with the University of Iowa and Iowa State University to conduct serology testing, or testing for herd immunity through examining recovered individuals’ antibodies, though the extent of that partnership is unclear.