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More than 50,000 Iowans Have Now Tested Positive for COVID-19
Des Moines, Iowa — The number of Iowans who’ve tested positive for COVID-19 since mid-March has now crossed the 50,000 case milestone.
According to the latest data as of 10:00 AM Thursday, 50,135 Iowans have now tested positive for COVID-19. That’s an increase of 501 cases in the last 24 hours since 10:00 AM Wednesday.
537,339 Iowans have now been tested for the virus. 90.7% of them have tested negative for the virus, leaving a positivity rate of 9.3% The state is reporting a one-day positivity rate of 5.5% among those tested on Wednesday. Of those who’ve tested positive, 39,214 are considered recovered by state health officials.
The state is also reporting the deaths of seven more individuals. A total of 954 Iowans have now died from COVID-19, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. Of those who’ve died, 511 of them were residents of long term care facilities. There are currently 28 outbreaks at Iowa long term care facilities affecting 847 Iowans.
There are currently 261 Iowans hospitalized with COVID-19. That is an increase of 18 patients in the last 24 hours. IDPH warned earlier this week that hospitalizations would increase this week as residents of long term care facilities that lost power in the derecho storm are moved to hospitals. Of those hospitalized, 88 are in the ICU and 25 are on ventilators. There are still 2,900 hospital beds still open in the state, as well as 464 ICU beds and 25 on ventilators.
Six counties in Iowa now have a 14-day rolling average positivity rate at or above 15%. This is the threshold that must be met before school districts can request to go to online-only learning. Those counties are Clarke, Humboldt, Lucas, Shelby, Webster, and Wright. Humboldt County’s two-week average rate stands at 25%, the highest in the state.
Serology testing, which tests for antibodies that are present after someone has recovered from the illness, shows there are 2,887 people who tested positive out of the 43,037 people given the serology test so far.
These cases represent the newest diagnosed cases and not all of the cases statewide. The IDPH provides a status report on its monitoring efforts and testing here, which includes all of the positive tests.
The IDPH is updating this data throughout the day in order to provide more current information for Iowans.
The state has also begun releasing new data about the outcomes of recovered patients and those who have died from the virus — like how many suffered from pre-existing medical conditions.
A public hotline has been established for questions about COVID-19 in Iowa. It is available 24/7 by calling 2-1-1 or 1-800-244-7431. If you think you have or may have had the coronavirus and want to get tested, take the TestIowa assessment here.