Men and elderly lag in taking Test Iowa coronavirus assessment

Nearly 327,000 Iowans have taken an assessment to see if they are eligible to be checked for COVID-19 under the Test Iowa Initiative.

Another free drive-though site for those who have taken the assessment and been scheduled for an appointment opened Thursday in Cedar Rapids - the fourth site in the state so far.

About 1 on 46 Iowans have been tested so far, health officials said.

State data release Thursday for the first time reveals big gaps in who has - and who has not - taken the assessment at TestIowa.om:

' Less than 35 percent of those who have been assessed for tests are men. Yet men are more apt to die from the disease than women. Of the 231 Iowa deaths so far, 51 percent are of men.

' Only 2 percent of those who have been assessed for testing are age 80 or over. But 46 percent of the Iowa deaths from the virus reported so far are in that age group.

' There are gaps in the rates at which urban and rural residents are completing the assessment. Nearly 9 percent of Linn County residents have been assessed, but only about 7.6 percent of Allamakee County residents have. Yet when looking at the rate of known infection per capita, Allamakee is far worse.