Iowa reports more than 3,500 COVID-19 cases in past week

Iowa added an average of 510 COVID-19 cases a day over the last week — the highest average in over three months and even higher than the same time a year ago when vaccines were not yet available here, according to weekly figures released Wednesday by the state.

Over a seven-day period ending Wednesday, 3,570 new cases were added, bringing to state’s total since when the pandemic began to 382,401.

The seven-day average was the highest since 512 cases on April 13. The average is higher than the same day one year ago, when the weekly average was 463 cases on Aug. 4, 2020. Iowans started being vaccinated against COVID-19 about four months after that, on Dec. 14, 2020.

The number of virus patients being treated in Iowa hospitals rose, too, from 157 to 214 as of late Wednesday. It marked the first time since April 24 that hospitalizations exceeded 200.

As of late Wednesday, the number of people in the ICU rose from 54 to 61 and the number of patients on ventilators went from 20 to 24.

And during the week, the state confirmed 10 deaths as result of COVID-19. All the deaths occurred in July and all but one were of people under 80.

One death was in Linn County. Audubon, Dickinson, Lee, Polk and Scott counties also reported one death each; and Webster and Des Moines counties reported two deaths each.

So far, at least 6,193 Iowans have died as a result of the virus.

Vaccinations

The number of fully vaccinated Iowans rose by 11,308 over the past seven days, for a total of 1,490,392. That marks 55.69 percent of Iowans over age 12 being fully vaccinated, or about 47.24 percent of Iowa’s total population.

In Linn County, 1,007 more residents completed a full vaccine series over the past week, bringing the total number to 121,448. In Johnson County, 475 more people became fully vaccinated over the past week, bringing the total number to 89,116.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 20 states — in addition to Puerto Rico and Guam — have better vaccinations rates than does Iowa.

New cases

Linn County added 229 new cases over the past seven days, for a seven-day average of 33. The county had a positivity rate of 7.72 percent over the week.

Johnson County added 109 new virus cases over the past seven days, for a seven-day average of 16. The county had a positivity rate of 4.58 percent over the past week.

A week ago, the CDC rated both Linn and Johnson counties as having “moderate” transmission rates measured per capita. In the latest CDC figures, Johnson remained rated “moderate” but Linn shot up two notches to be rated “high.”

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John McGlothlen of The Gazette contributed.