Iowa COVID cases, hospitalizations down in weekly update
The COVID-19 pandemic continued to recede in Iowa over the past week, according to data released Wednesday by the Iowa Department of Public Health and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
New reported COVID-19 cases dropped nearly 30% week over week, the state health department said. There were 2,091 new cases reported this week, or an average of 299 per day — down from 415 per day last week. That’s the fewest cases reported in one week since April.
The number of newly reported cases has dropped by nearly half in two weeks and by nearly 60% since the start of the month.
That’s a contrast to previous years. At the end of September 2020, the state was reporting three times as many cases per day.
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At this time last year, the state was reporting five times as many — more than 1,500 cases per day. Some of the difference can be attributed to the rise in at-home testing; people who test positive using an at-home test may not be included in the state health department’s tally.
Hospitalizations for the disease were also on the decline this week. The federal health and human services department reported 179 people were hospitalized in Iowa with COVID-19, making this the third straight week that hospitalization counts dropped. It’s also the fewest number of people hospitalized in the state with COVID-19 in a weekly update since June.
The one metric where the pandemic didn’t lessen this week was the number of Iowans requiring intensive care for COVID-19 complications. That number increased from 19 to 27, according to the health and human services department.
The state health department reported 26 additional COVID-19 deaths this week, raising the state’s pandemic death toll to 10,077. Most of the deaths reported this week likely occurred earlier, as it takes some time for the health department to verify and publicly report each COVID-19 death.
The latest COVID-19 numbers in Iowa
The latest data in Iowa since March 2020 for the pandemic, as of midnight Sept. 28, compared with one week earlier:
- Confirmed cases: 855,931, an increase of 2,091.
- Deaths: 10,077, an increase of 26.
Data on the state vaccination rate is now updated once a month on the state health department website. As of Sept. 5, 59.4% of Iowans were fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
How many people are hospitalized with COVID-19 in Iowa?
Note: Hospitalization data for COVID-19 is no longer available through the Iowa Department of Public Health. The data below is from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- Hospitalizations: 179, down from 219 one week ago.
- Patients in intensive care: 27, up from 19.
Tim Webber is a data visualization specialist for the Register. Reach him at twebber@registermedia.com, 515-284-8532, and on Twitter at @HelloTimWebber.
