Gazette Daily News Podcast, September 30

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This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for Thursday, September 30.

There will be a chance for rain Thursday, although it appears to be much more likely on Friday. According to the National Weather Service there will be a 10 percent chance of showers in the Cedar Rapids area after 4 p.m. and a 30 percent chance after 7 p.m. Besides that it will be mostly sunny, with a high near 85 degrees. Thursday night it will be partly cloudy, with a low around 64 degrees.

The availability of intensive care unit beds in Iowa is at the lowest level since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March of 2020.

As of Wednesday, 163 ICU beds were available statewide, an all-time low according to new coronavirus data from the Iowa Department of Public Health. A week ago, there were 182 available beds.

In slightly more positive news, while the state still continues to pile on new cases, the rate appears to have stabilized for the moment. Iowa reported 10,812 new COVID-19 over the past week, compared to the 12,163 new cases reported last Wednesday. The state’s seven-day positivity rate was 9.5 percent, slightly lower than last week’s 9.6 percent.

Although the ICU bed situation remains dire, the number of people hospitalized with COVID dropped slightly. In total, 624 people were hospitalized with the virus as of Wednesday, compared to the 638 hospitalizations reported last week.

Given the staffing concerns at a University of Iowa hospital facing the confluence of surging patient demand and a frazzled workforce, administrators announced Wednesday they’re doubling extra shift premium pay for inpatient nurses and respiratory therapists over the next seven weeks.

According to a message from UI Health Care’s Chief Nursing Executive Kimberly Hunter and Human Resources Associate Vice President Jana Wessels, the extra shift premium differential will increase from $15 to $30 an hour beginning Sunday and going through Nov. 21.

The boost in pay comes as health care employee burnout has emerged as among the biggest challenges of this wave of COVID-19 infections. The prolonged stress has led health care providers to struggle to adequately keep staff.

An out-of-state company hopes to become the newest insurer for Iowans under the state’s Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program, also known as CHIP.

The Dayton, Ohio-based health care company CareSource announced its intent to submit a bid for consideration to join Iowa’s $6 billion program as state officials conduct their search for another managed-care organization later this year. MCOs are private insurance companies that deliver health care services to poor and disabled Iowans through a contract with the state.

Medicaid health benefits in Iowa currently are administered by two managed-care organizations — Amerigroup and Iowa Total Care. Even after a sometimes tumultuous five years of the privatized Iowa Medicaid program, CareSource officials say they are excited to help Iowa “re-imagine what Medicaid can do for Iowans.”

A former Eldridge police officer has been arrested for allegedly sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl while on-duty.

24-year-old Andrew Patrick Denoyer resigned Monday and was taken into custody Tuesday night by agents with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. Denoyer was booked into the Scott County Jail with a $10,000, cash-only bond.

The assault happened May 1, while Denoyer was employed and on-duty as an Eldridge police officer, according to an arrest affidavit.

He's charged with third-degree sexual abuse, a Class C felony under Iowa law that carries a prison sentence of 10 years.