Iowa will discontinue its coronavirus reporting website, as well as a website helping Iowans find vaccinations, and end its coronavirus public health disaster proclamation in mid-February, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds announced on Thursday. 

In a press release, Reynolds said she signed the final extension of the state’s coronavirus Public Health Disaster Emergency Proclamation. The proclamation will end at 11:59 on Feb. 15. 

“We cannot continue to suspend duly enacted laws and treat COVID-19 as a public health emergency indefinitely,” Reynolds said. “After two years, it’s no longer feasible or necessary. The flu and other infectious illnesses are part of our everyday lives, and coronavirus can be managed similarly.”

Reynolds also said the state would end the use of its COVID-19 reporting website, coronavirus.iowa.gov, as well as vaccinate.iowa.gov, a website encouraging vaccinations and helping Iowans find COVID-19 vaccines. About 65 percent of Iowans age 5 and up are fully vaccinated. 

The state and health care providers in Iowa will still report cases and other data to federal aggregators, the press release said. Iowa’s COVID-19 case counts will be viewable on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, as well as other sites that use federal data. 

The Iowa Department of Public Health will continue to report weekly COVID-19 data on its website as well, the press release said. The updates will include the weekly COVID-19 cases in the last seven days and cases by county, as well as other metrics. 

“The new format will include data points that Iowans are used to seeing, but moves us closer to existing reporting standards for other respiratory viruses,” IDPH Director Kelly Garcia said in the release. “This new phase also assures that our teams, who have been deeply committed to the COVID-19 response, can return to their pre-pandemic responsibilities, and refocus on areas where the pandemic has taken a hard toll.”