Iowa sees second-highest coronavirus death tally since late May

Iowa on Saturday recorded its second-highest death count due to COVID-19 since May 22, with 23 Iowans dying from the novel coronavirus.

Twenty-five Iowans died on May 22 from the virus.

The 24-hour time period as of 11 a.m. Saturday also was only the fourth time the number of positive cases exceeded 1,000 - at 1,075 - according to figures from the Iowa Department of Public Health.

Linn County also saw its highest day of positive cases - 83 - since the coronavirus first was recorded in the state in early March.

Neighboring Johnson County, home to the University of Iowa, continued to notch significant numbers for positive cases, with 122 new positive cases in the Iowa Department of Public Health's tally. According to The Gazette's data, Saturday marked the 11th straight day of triple-digit cases for that county.

Iowa State University's home county, Story, had 87 new positive cases and Black Hawk County, the University of Northern Iowa's home, reported 63 positive cases.

Statewide, hospitalizations dropped by 15, to 317 patients. Intensive-care unit patients, however, increased from the day before, to 94 from 87.

The number of patients on ventilators dropped by three, to 38.

Top 10 counties in total cases:

1. Polk - 13887

2. Johnson - 4451

3. Woodbury - 4284

4. Black Hawk - 3969

5. Linn - 3147

6. Story - 2829

7. Dallas - 2466

8. Scott - 2353

9. Dubuque - 2146

10. Buena Vista - 1853

Double-digit increases or more:

1. Johnson - 122

2. Polk - 119

3. Story - 87

4. Linn - 83

5. Henry - 71

6. Black Hawk - 63

7. Scott - 50

8. Woodbury - 47

9. Dubuque - 36

10. Dallas - 27

11. Plymouth - 22

12. Des Moines - 18

13. Warren - 18

14. Sioux - 15

15. Jasper - 14

16. Marshall - 13

17. Wapello - 13

18. Webster - 13

19. Buena Vista - 12

20. Pottawattamie - 12

21. Cedar - 10

The Gazette's Stephen Colbert contributed to this report.