COVID-19 spike eases in Iowa despite thousands testing positive daily

The signs of coronavirus trouble continued to ease in Iowa Wednesday but thousands have tested positive daily as the governor urged caution and companies worked to get vaccines on the market. 

The number of daily new COVID-19 cases has been cut nearly in half, falling 48% in two weeks, the New York Times reported Wednesday. The number of daily deaths, including 23 on Tuesday, was up 7% but had been growing at several times that rate. Hospitalizations were down 6% in two weeks.

On Tuesday, Gov. Kim Reynolds, who issued a partial mask mandate and other restrictions over the past several weeks, said the state is making “slow, steady progress” in slowing the coronavirus. But she urged residents to continue to wear masks, wash their hands and keep their distance from those living outside their homes. 

Iowa is now averaging 2,182 new cases a day, the Times reported. At the beginning of the pandemic, even 500 cases a day drew concern. And the 23 deaths on Tuesday compared with well under 10 deaths a day in the early weeks of the pandemic. 

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Iowa has recorded 233,062 cases and 2,449 deaths, the Times reported. Despite a changing pattern of business and government office closures and mitigation efforts in schools, November was the deadliest month since the pandemic started, with 657 deaths, KCCI reported. 

Many experts don’t expect the number of cases to plateau nationally until months after vaccinations start. The United Kingdom authorized Pfizer’s vaccine this week, CNN reported.

The hospital situation has drawn a lot of attention, as medical administrators scramble to keep adequate staffing, equipment and beds available. 

The Iowa Department of Public Health reported that COVID-related hospitalizations peaked at 1,527 on Nov. 16. On Wednesday, that number stood at 1,162, down slightly from 1,170 the day before. 

However, 181 coronavirus patients were admitted to hospitals in the past 24 hours as of 9:15 a.m. Wednesday, up from 129 the previous period. 

As of Wednesday morning, 226 COVID patients were in intensive care, down from 235 on Tuesday. 

Reynolds defended the state’s testing regime Tuesday, saying several thousand more Iowans were tested Thanksgiving week, even with the holiday break, than were tested the first week of November.

But the Times’ analysis showed a sharp drop in recent days. The Times’ database shows Iowa had a daily average of 7,375 tests as of Nov. 14, but 4,029 as of Tuesday. The data included the Thanksgiving weekend, when testing dropped.

The White House coronavirus task force warned local public health officials that the pandemic is at an all-time high intensity in the United States, CNN reported.

“The COVID risk to all Americans is at a historic high,” a Nov. 29 task force report indicated. “The national daily COVID incidence after Memorial Day, but before the summer surge, was fewer than 25,000 new cases/day and is now more than 180,000 new cases/day; COVID inpatients then were fewer than 30,000 but are now more than 90,000; fatalities have more than doubled,” the task force’s weekly report indicated. 

Added the report authors: “We are in a very dangerous place due to the current, extremely high COVID baseline and limited hospital capacity; a further post-Thanksgiving surge will compromise COVID patient care, as well as medical care overall.”