Michaela Ramm

Due to an increase patient count, local hospitals are temporarily limiting elective surgeries and procedures in an effort to preserve hospital capacity for emergency cases and to continue serving the community, officials say.

Children aged 17 and younger made up 29 percent of positive COVID-19 cases this past week, remaining as the top age group for positive cases

Late last month, federal public health officials announced Americans with a compromised immune system were eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose. Some of the first Iowans who qualify began recieving that booster dose this month, including Cedar Rapids resident Erica Earl.

A Gazette reader asked us about discarded COVID vaccines in Iowa. Here’s what we learned.

Research has found masks are a highly effective tool in preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus, including in states that have implemented statewide mask mandates. One public health expert says bans on these universal requirements can be detrimental to overall mask use.

All Mercy employees and volunteers must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Nov. 15, officials announced Friday.

It’s not that health care facilities lack PPE or other necessary supplies to care for patients. They lack enough staff with the training to care for critically ill patients.

One of the nation’s most restrictive abortion bans went into effect in Texas on Wednesday. Abortion advocates in Iowa say this law, as well as an upcoming Supreme Court case, could inspire further abortion restrictions in Iowa in the near future.

To keep our readers informed about COVID-19, we need your help: Please share your questions with us, and we’ll work to answer them.

The blood services provider ImpactLife will require all employees in Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Nov. 1. Religious and medical exemptions will be considered, officials say.

As new coronavirus cases surge, local public health agencies are working to ramp up their contact tracing efforts. But officials say those efforts have already been strained in recent weeks as the delta variant drives an alarming spike in infections.

Danielle Pettit-Majewski is the new director of the Johnson County Public Health Department. She previously served about eight years as the director at Washington County Public Health.

The North Liberty food pantry will officially open the North Liberty Community Closet, a new service to provide free clothing to families in need, this week.

Local health care and public health officials are urging all Linn County residents to get vaccinated and take other mitigation measures as new coronavirus cases surge in recent weeks. Cedar Rapids hospitals say they are seeing an alarming increase in hospitalizations, including among fully vaccinated residents.

Cedar Rapids police say a Cedar Rapids man faces an animal neglect charge after his three-year-old dog died as a result of heat exhaustion earlier this week.