Iowa reports another 6 COVID-19 deaths and 1,341 new coronavirus cases

Staff reports

Another six people with COVID-19 have died in Iowa and there have been an additional 1,341 confirmed cases, the state reported Thursday.

At 10 a.m. Thursday, the state was reporting 1,299 COVID-19-related deaths, an increase of six deaths since the state's tally at 10 a.m. Wednesday, according to the state's Coronavirus.Iowa.gov website.

COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.

The state was reporting at 10 a.m. Thursday that there are 83,347 confirmed cases of coronavirus, an increase of 1,341 since 10 a.m. Wednesday.

The state has been changing how it reports testing data, which has caused spikes in the rate of positive data. Before the changes, the state was consistently reporting a positivity rate, that is, the percentage of tests that were positive, below 10%. Iowa also is now counting the results of antigen tests, a relatively rapid type of coronavirus tests, that will increase the reported rates of infection in some counties.

On Thursday, the state was reporting 11% positive since the pandemic started. Of the tests the state has reported since 10 a.m. Wednesday, 17.7% were positive, according to a Des Moines Register analysis. Iowa's 14-day average was 9.2% positive, according to the state.

These were the Iowa counties that had 14-day averages above 15%:

Sioux (30.6%);
Osceola (27.3%);
Lyon (23.0%);
Crawford (22.7%);
Audubon (20.0%);
Henry (19.9%);
Sac (19.5%);
Plymouth (19.4%);
Fremont (17.5%);
Ida (16.9%);
Dubuque (16.4%);
Woodbury (15.7%);
Winnebago (15.3%);
Cherokee (15.0%).

Gov. Kim Reynolds has ordered that at least 50% of instruction at Iowa schools must be held in person. For K-12 schools to be considered for a state waiver allowing for online-only instruction, districts must have an 10% absentee rate and the county they are located in must have a 14-day coronavirus average of at least 15%.

Of the 83,347 people who have tested positive, 61,466 have recovered, according to the state. The total number of people tested is 758,501, including 7,558 on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the state was reporting 305 hospitalizations, up from 301 on Wednesday. In the past 24 hours, 56 patients have been admitted.

The Des Moines Register uses data from the Iowa Department of Public Health to report daily totals of Iowans tested for the coronavirus and Iowans who have tested positive for the virus, as of 10 a.m. each day. Since the pandemic began in spring, the state has made changes and corrections to how it reports that data and the data does not always agree with numbers reported from other sources.

More: COVID-19 maps and charts track cases and data in Iowa and across the U.S.

We will remember:Share your stories of loved ones lost to the coronavirus

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