Half of Linn County’s adult population now vaccinated against COVID-19

More than half of Linn County’s age 16 and up population is now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to public health data released Sunday.

in the Corridor, Linn and Johnson counties continue to show vaccination rates higher than the statewide average.

As of Sunday, more than 1.14 million Iowans were fully vaccinated, an increase of over 12,000 people from the day before. That represents about 45.66 percent of Iowans old enough to be eligible.

That rate now has crossed 50 percent in Linn County, where 90,591 people age 16 and up were fully vaccinated as of Sunday. The comparable rate is higher — over 57 percent — in Johnson County, where 71,028 people were fully vaccinated as of Sunday, according to the data.

New cases

In a 24-hour period ending at 11 a.m. Sunday, the state added 155 new cases for a total of 367,695 confirmed cases of the disease since the start of the pandemic.

Linn County added six of those cases in the 24-hour period, for a total so far of 20,778. Johnson County added three of the cases for a total of 14,439.

No new cases were added in the period for adults in the education occupation category. However, 34 cases — nearly 22 percent of all new cases — were added among children age 17 and younger, according to state data.

Deaths

An additional COVID-19 death was confirmed Sunday, bringing the total number of Iowans who have died as a result of the infection to 5,985.

The state said the newly confirmed death was someone over 80 who died last month in Appanoose County.

Hospitalizations

The number of patients being treated for COVID-19 in Iowa hospitals dropped from 176 to 170 in the 24-hour period. The number of patients in intensive care remained unchanged at 39, while the number of virus patients placed on ventilators declined from 16 to 12.

John McGlothlen of The Gazette contributed to this report.