Johnson and Linn counties are seeing their highest weekly totals for COVID-19 cases in 13 months as positivity rates continue to trend up, according to data released Wednesday by the Iowa Department of Public Health.
The fast-spreading mutant version of the virus has cast a pall over Christmas and New Year's, forcing communities to scale back or call off their festivities just weeks after it seemed as if Americans were about to enjoy an almost normal holiday season.
Family of man who died from an infection unrelated to COVID believes he would have had a better chance of surviving had his transfer to a larger hospital not been delayed because of the pandemic.
Experts say the pandemic will become endemic, meaning hospitals likely will face COVID-19 for the foreseeable future. As they prepare for long-term response, area hospital leaders say they face a number of challenges around recruiting and retaining an adequate health care workforce.
According to the Iowa’s public health’s weekly coronavirus report, those not fully vaccinated — like Samantha Morris, 24 — account for 88 percent of patients in COVID-19 intensive care. Morris was put on a ventilator and ECMO machine during her 51-day stay at St. Luke’s.
The state agreed early this month to pay a Kansas company $220 per hour for the nurses it supplies, with the expectation that the nurses will work 20 hours of overtime each week at the rate of $330 per hour.
Since work-from-home began, people nationwide have been experiencing more pain and musculoskeletal issues as a result of poor posture. Mike Powell, a Cedar Rapids chiropractor, shares strategies for improving ergonomics.
The Iowa Board of Nursing has suspended the license of Michael Schleicher of Fairfield, a nurse accused of engaging in more than 25,000 phone calls or text messages with an underage patient.
With the COVID-19 infection once again surging during the holiday season, we asked medical experts how Iowans can be safe in the coming weeks.
The number of patients hospitalized for the coronavirus in Iowa dropped this week, the first decline following six consecutive weeks of increases, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. Despite that, total available ICU beds dipped to another all-time low this past week, reaching just 130 available beds on Tuesday.
Cedar Rapids has been sampling wastewater to determine the spread of COVID in the community, and recent data collection shows concentration of the virus in Cedar Rapids’ sewage is “more pronounced than the number of cases indicated by Linn County Public Health.”
Although the average number of patients and residents decreased over the past five years, the total cost to maintain Iowa’s six state-run institutions has increased according to a new report from the Iowa State Auditor’s Office.
But the number of active COVID-19 outbreaks in Iowa nursing homes is continuing to decline.
After experiencing a spike in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths after the Thanksgiving holiday, Iowa goes into Christmas week with continued high widespread virus activity and no significant gains in vaccination.
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