Vice President Pence praised Iowa's response to COVID-19, but the state — which is starting to reopen — is experiencing a rising death toll from the coronavirus

AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

• Vice President Mike Pence said Friday that Iowa "has been leading the way" in the fight against COVID-19.
• The state recently began allowing religious institutions to hold in-person services again, despite a rising death toll from the coronavirus.
• "We are pretty much in a position of uniformly believing that it's too early to return to personal worship. It's inadvisable at the moment particularly with rising case counts in communities where we are across the state," David Kaufman, rabbi of Temple B'nai Jeshurun in Des Moines, told the Associated Press.
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Vice President Mike Pence has said Iowa is a COVID-19 "success story," telling religious leaders on Friday that it "has been leading the way with Governor Kim Reynolds," a fellow Republican who has begun reopening the state.

But while not as hard hit as America's coasts, Iowa has still suffered at least 243 confirmed deaths due to the coronavirus — nearly as many as South Korea, despite having 1/16th the population — with a dozen more fatalities reported the day of Pence's trip.

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