Iowa City Mayor Bruce Teague issued an order requiring face coverings to be worn in public across the city Tuesday, openly defying Gov. Kim Reynolds’ claim that cities could only institute such a rule with her authority. Reynolds has repeatedly declined to mandate face masks in Iowa, stating that residents would wear them on their own. Teague sid that Reynolds is not required to grant cities authority for them to institute mask mandates because the state constitution allows mayors to issue orders when an “emergency or public danger exists.” The order requires all people over the age of 2 to wear masks in public in Iowa City except when eating at a restaurant, running, biking, or driving a car.
