Why despite record hospitalizations and deaths does Gov. of Iowa refuse to issue a mask mandate and refuses to allow cities also?

You are asking a Republican governor to buck the president of the United States who has made it clear it is against his wishes to mandate wearing masks. It is a political decision by his excellency to get people back to work regardless of the numbers of Americans who are put are risk, get sick and die. The important thing is for Trump to get re-elected. Remember he considers his followers who want to open states completely, regardless of the health risk, as “patriots who are “liberating” democratic states from acting safely toward the virus. After all there is nothing anyone can do about the thousands who are going to die anyway, right? So while we wait for a vaccine, next year sometime, let’s head to the bars and party and ignore those among our friends and relatives who died so we can have fun exercising our “rights.” Right??

Because this virus is killing the elderly and ones with pre-existing conditions more than anyone else. From an economic view (if your republican) or from a global climate change point of view (if your democrats) we will all benefit. Not to seem incompassionate, because I don't wish a death on anyone, but there is a reason why diseases and viruses do what they do and that is largely to cull the population down when they have gotten out of hand.

Mask mandates are an authoritarian overreach. If you don't want to be around people without mask then stay back from people without mask. If you don't want to eat in a restaurant then don't. If you don't want to go in a grocery store that allows unmask patrons then pick another grocery store. 

You have rights, so does everyone else.