Michaela Ramm

Using federal dollars, the state has contracted 100 traveling nurses and respiratory therapists to assist 17 hospitals across Iowa as health care providers grapple with the highest number of COVID-19 patient admissions seen in a year.

The latest variant of COVID-19, omicron, has been detected in an Iowa resident for the first time, state public health officials confirmed Thursday. The Black Hawk County resident is under 18 and is asymptomatic.

As their hospitals experience a concerning increase in COVID-19 admissions, the top medical officers at Mercy Medical Center and UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Hospital say more people with boosted immunity could help slow the surge.

The number of dementia and Alzheimer’s cases has increased in recent years and the COVID-19 pandemic has indirectly caused further decline in those with cognitive conditions.

In the past 24 hours alone, 133 COVID-19 patients were admitted to Iowa hospitals, the highest since Dec. 8, 2020. Seven-day COVID-19 admissions, as well as the number of patients in the ICU and on ventilators, have also reached numbers not seen since last year.

A local blood center, ImpactLife, provided 15 units of O-type red blood cells to help replenish the blood supply at hospitals near Oxford, Mich., where a school shooting left four students dead and more injured.

The number of individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 this week are at the highest level seen in nearly a year. leaping to 721 from 623 last week. Patient counts statewide leaped for the fourth week in a row, according to the state public health department.

The 2021 Iowa City Go Red for Women Luncheon is scheduled to take place on Friday -- the first time the event has been held in-person in nearly two years.

Witwer Children’s Therapy is doubling the footprint of its Cedar Rapids clinic at 3245 Williams Parkway SW after providers say they’ve seen an increase in demand for services since COVID-19 started.

Ethan Alexander Orton, the 17-year-old Cedar Rapids resident accused of killing both his parents on Oct. 14, has entered not guilty pleas to two counts of first-degree murder.

Police had responded to a call for a disturbance on the evening of Nov. 27, and found the victim had sustained bruises, broken ribs and a punctured lung. The individual had to receive emergency medical care and be hospitalized, according to a criminal complaint.

As of this month, Sue Mincks has officially flown 1,000 times as a flight paramedic at the LifeGuard Air Ambulance at UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Hospital. She joined the crew in 2005.

About a dozen long-term care facilities across Eastern Iowa have hired apprentices to fill open CNA positions. The program, facilitated through Kirkwood Community College, hopes to entice long-term employees locally by providing funding for their coursework and exam costs.

New COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations have increased again this week as Iowans prepare to gathering with family and loved ones for Thanksgiving celebrations this week.

Iowa’s already strained health care system could be in for a rough winter after officials with the University of Iowa Health Care say flu cases have rapidly increased in the past two weeks, raising the possibility that the state could face “twindemic” spikes of flu and COVID-19.