Michaela Ramm

Even while undergoing the rigors of chemotherapy for his stage 4 colon cancer, Phil Decker was among the select few who qualified for and completed this year’s Boston Marathon.

The county reported 305 new cases this week — the highest seven-day total since the 449 cases reported Feb. 16.

In the past year, federal assistance programs and cost-sharing waivers from private insurance companies for COVID-19 treatments as ended. As a result, financial counselors have seen more clients seeking help with medical debt.

It’s been about two-and-a-half years since “generate,” an innovation lab, opened in St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids. So far, 375 inventions have been built by clinicians in the space, even as the hospital grappled with COVID-19.

Increasing coronavirus transmission rates and new COVID-19 cases across Johnson County is a result of an emergence of BA.2, a subvariant of omicron, federal data shows. A local expert says this latest stage of the pandemic highlights the importance of vaccines and booster shots.

The Iowa Department of Public Health reported 1,063 new COVID-19 cases in the past week, an increase from the 900 new cases reported last week. However, infected patients in intensive care in Iowa’s hospitals have reached an all-time low.

A statewide coalition of refugee and immigrant service leaders has launched RIVA, a new coalition that aims to address public health inequities among the refugee and immigrant population in Iowa.

UnityPoint Health officials have revised masking policies for three Eastern Iowa hospitals, including St. Luke’s in Cedar Rapids. Masking is optional for most patients, visitors and fully vaccinated staff, with certain exceptions.

UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Hospital has established a second incentive program for nursing students, this time with Kirkwood Community College. Students will get financial aid and a sign-on bonus in exchange for 18 months’ employment.

Syphilis cases have increased 55 percent between 2020 and 2021 in Iowa, preliminary data from the Iowa Department of Public Health shows. In addition, a spike in congenital syphilis has alarmed public health officials.

UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Hospital has partnered with Mount Mercy University to launch the Senior Promise Program, which offers financial aid to cover tuition and other costs for senior nursing students’ final two semesters at school. After graduation, these students will work as full-time nurses in units that face the greatest staffing challenges, hospital officials say.

After reaching an all-time low last week, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 increased to 68 in Iowa in the past week, though that number is still far below the January peak.

Anne Harris Carter has been hired as the first-ever health equity manager at Linn County Public Health. The daughter of Dr. Percy and Lileah Harris, Carter will focus on addressing systematic barriers to health equity, such as racism and poverty, that community members face.

U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Bob Casey introduced legislation that proposes a permanent expansion of a Medicare program for rural hospitals in Iowa and across the nation.

930 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Iowa in the past week, almost double the number reported last week. It’s the first overall increase in virus activity statewide since the peak of the omicron variant’s surge in mid-January.