DES MOINES, Iowa (KELO.com) — Iowa, one of the nation’s COVID-19 hot spots, has seen a jump of 61% in the number of daily cases over the past two weeks, the New York Times reported.
The state this week has seen a flurry of both actions, reversals of decisions, inaction, and court challenges as the coronavirus pandemic rolls on with no approved vaccine.
Iowa State University, itself a hot spot on the national scale, announced it would allow 25,000 fans to attend the first football game of the season, with the support of Gov. Kim Reynolds, then reversed course after ISU President Wendy Wintersteen fielded a flood of complaints.
A district court prepared to decide whether Gov. Kim Reynolds’ decision to close bars in six counties should be reversed. Reynolds chose not to order people to wear masks, or to close down bars across the state, ignoring the advice of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The former spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Public Health sued Reynolds and the state, claiming she was pushed out for sharing information with reporters, which was part of her job. And a new Grinnell College National Poll found most Americans consider schools unsafe due the pandemic, even though Reynolds and some other governors are pushing for in-person classes.
The Times reported that Iowa had at least three new coronavirus deaths and 1,230 new cases Thursday.
The average of 887 cases per day over the past week was up 61% from the level two weeks ago, the Times reported.
Iowa dropped to third-highest among the states based on per capita cases of COVID-19 cases, the Times reported. North Dakota and South Dakota ranked higher Friday morning.
The Iowa Department of Public Health reported 714 new cases on Thursday. The state listed the total number of cases as 67,982, with 10.4% of tests positive. The state’s daily case total often differs from the New York Times’ data.
The state had recorded at least 67,693 cases and 1,141 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
The greatest share of cases, 49%, have been among people ages 18-40 in Iowa. Patients over age 61 have accounted for 89% of the deaths.
Eleven counties had positivity rates of more than 15% as of Friday morning, based on 14-day averages, the state health department reported. Topping the list were Johnson, Sioux, Story and Plymouth, all of which were over 20%.
(Perry Beeman with the Iowa Capital Dispatch contributed this report. It was reported first in the ICD here. It is used with permission.)
