New COVID-19 cases decline, but Iowa sees increase in virus deaths

The number of new COVID-19 cases in Iowa declined in the past week, but the number of virus-related deaths continues to climb, state health officials reported Wednesday.

The Iowa Department of Public Health confirmed 97 new deaths in the past week, bringing the state’s death toll since March 2020 to 6,748.

The seven-day average for confirmed deaths this week was 13, the highest reported since early April.

The death toll by age group was:

Of the 97 deaths, 38 occurred in October; 51 in September; six in August; and two in May.

Linn County reported four deaths in the past week, bringing the county total to 379 since March 2020. Johnson County reported two deaths, bringing its total to 100.

Ten deaths were confirmed in Black Hawk County, followed by Polk County with seven. Five deaths were reported in Dallas, Des Moines, Henry County, Pottawattamie and Webster counties.

Page County reported four deaths. Counties reporting two deaths each were Buena Vista, Calhoun, Cherokee, Clay, Dubuque, Franklin, Iowa, Jasper, Jefferson, Madison, Marion and Wapellos.

Counties reporting one death each were Boone, Bremer, Cas, Cedar, Clarke, Clinton, Fayette, Floyd, Guthrie, Ida, Jones, Kossuth, Lee, Marshall, Mills, Monona, Palo Alto, Poweshiek, Scott, Tama, Woodbury and Wright.

New cases

The number of new COVID-19 cases in Iowa decreased for the third week in a row, indicating the recent surge driven by the delta variant of the coronavirus may be on the decline.

The state reported 8,167 new cases, compared to the 9,860 reported last Wednesday.

Iowa’s seven-day positivity rate was 8.7 percent, a drop from the 9.7 percent reported last week.

However, transmission of the virus statewide remains at the highest level. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, all 99 Iowa counties continue to have the highest rates of community transmission.

Among the new cases, the 17 and younger age group continues to have the most cases, at 22 percent, a ranking it’s had since the first week of September.

The remaining age groups reporting new cases were:

Linn County reported 545 new cases in the past week, a drop from the 755 reported last week. The seven-day positivity rate was 8.4 percent, compared to 10.5 percent last week.

Johnson County added 187 new cases, compared to 265 last week. The seven-day positivity rate was 4.9 percent, compared to 5.6 percent last week.

Hospitalizations

In the past week, 598 patients were hospitalized with COVID, compared to 626 the week before.

The number of patients in intensive care units increased slightly, reaching 150 compared to 141 last week. Those on ventilators rose to 78, compared to 66 last Wednesday.

Those not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 account for 79.2 percent of COVID-19 hospitalizations and 84 percent of the COVID-19 patients in intensive care units.

Long-term care outbreaks

Twenty-nine long-term care facilities reported an outbreak, defined as three or more COVID-19 cases among staff and residents.

That’s a drop from the 31 reported last week, which was the highest seen since February 2021.

Vaccinations

As of Wednesday, an additional 10,549 residents became fully vaccinated, bringing the statewide total to 1,637,184.

That’s 61.17 percent of Iowans aged 12 and older and 51.89 percent of all Iowans.

In Linn County, 131,674 residents were fully vaccinated, up 786 in the past week. That is 58.08 percent of the county’s total population and 72.97 percent of those aged 16 and older.

In Johnson County, 94,172 residents were fully vaccinated, an increase of 321 from last week. That’s 62.31 percent of the total county population and 75.75 percent of those aged 16 and older.

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