Michaela Ramm

Sam Valentine is a patient representative at the Eastern Iowa Health Center, making her the first point of contact for patients arriving at the organization. In that role, Valentine and other patient representatives can help identify patients’ needs -- including non-medical needs -- and connect them with services.

As of Wednesday, 86 long-term care facilities in Iowa were reporting a COVID-19 outbreak -- five times the number reporting outbreaks six weeks ago. At the same time, hospitalizations and new cases are declining statewide.

Elijah D. O. Morse, 26, allegedly kicked in the door of a Hiawatha residence and took the resident’s phone, according to a criminal complaint.

Cedar Rapids resident Cathy Folkers was hospitalized for 89 days with COVID-19, moving in and out of the intensive care unit. The cost of her stay? More than $1 million. Fortunately for her the cost was covered entirely by Medicaid

Iowa reported 38,574 new COVID-19 cases in the past seven days, the highest weekly total ever seen in the pandemic. Public health officials also reported more than 1,000 COVID-19 patients this week as the omicron variant continues its rapid spread throughout the state.

A Cedar Rapids woman was charged with first degree theft after Linn County Sheriff’s deputies discovered her to be in possession of a stolen vehicle while intoxicated.

Following the 2020 derecho, Iowa City resident Joe Hennegar spent 14 months turning a 16-foot pine tree stump into the Iowa City Reading Tree, a free little library that hopes to inspire area children to read.

The current surge in COVID-19 cases has resulted in more delays in health care for the average Iowan “than there were at any other time during the pandemic,” the CEO of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics said this week. Not only are health care systems facing high COVID-19 hospitalization rates, but more staff are calling in sick than ever before.

For the second week in a row, Johnson County reported a record in new COVID-19 infections with 2,308 cases this past week. State public health data released Wednesday shows case counts statewide continue to surge as hospitalizations reach totals not seen since December 2020.

A nationwide shortage of monoclonal antibody therapies and oral antiviral medications used to treat COVID-19 patients has prompted local hospital officials to adjust treatment protocols, prioritizing the patients at highest risk for developing serious illness.

As new COVID-19 infections continue surging statewide, both Cedar Rapids hospitals continue to delay elective, non-emergent surgical procedures to preserve hospital capacity.

Johnson County Public Health officially ended its coronavirus contact tracing efforts on Tuesday, saying the current surge in new cases has made it nearly impossible for contact tracers to conduct investigations in a timely manner.

The highly transmissible omicron variant of the novel coronavirus has become the dominant strain in Iowa, and its continued spread will result in a peak of new infections by the end of the month, University of Iowa Health Care officials say.

Linn, Johnson counties seeing positivity rates above 20 percent

Carter Wolf, 24, is accused of firing his gun through his closed bedroom door at least 6 or 7 times in the direction of his landlord, who was at the residence to fix a plumbing issue.