As over a dozen presumptive positive cases of 2019 novel coronavirus have been confirmed in Iowa, and at least 696 cases confirmed nationwide, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R) advises Iowans to listen to what health experts say about the virus.

When asked about mixed messages coming from the White House on COVID-19, Grassley tells Raccoon Valley Radio those have likely come from himself as well, and he gives this “rule of thumb,” “All of your listeners should be paying attention to only what the eight or nine or 10, I don’t know how many agencies we have in the federal government that are affected with healthcare, but they’re all at the long table when we have a briefing on this. And particularly Dr. (Anthony) Fauci of the, some branch of NIH that he heads (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases), he’s the one most on television. But any of them that know more about health than Chuck Grassley or Secretary (of Health and Human Services Alex) Azar or Vice President (Mike) Pence or the President, whoever you’re hearing from, pay attention to the health experts.”

Since the respiratory disease was first reported to the World Health Organization on December 31st, 2019, over 118,000 cases have been confirmed with over 4,200 deaths, 25 of them in the U.S. While COVID-19 is a new disease with some unknowns, Guthrie County Public Health Director Jotham Arber says about 80% of those infected have recovered without special treatment. The current mortality rate is about 3.6%, according to the World Health Organization, as older people and those with underlying medical issues are more likely to become seriously ill.