250 new deaths reported bring Iowa near 5,000 since pandemic started

The Iowa Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 data shows an increase of 757 confirmed cases of the virus from 10:00 a.m. on January 30 to 10:00 a.m. on January 31. Those new cases come from 2,862 new tests. That means the positivity rate of new reported tests was 26.5%

250 new deaths were reported over the last 24-hour stretch – with 4,901 Iowans now dead from COVID-19 during the pandemic. Sarah Ekstrand of the Iowa Department of Public Health tells Iowa’s News Now that the sudden jump in cases is part of the ongoing effort to identify all COVID-19 deaths in Iowa, and does not mean an immediate spike in deaths has taken place.

“In many instances, a NCHS (National Center for Health Statistics) specialist must spend time researching the individual’s record, including when there is a cause of death statement that has more than one disease listed or if there are a series of related diseases.” Ekstrand said on Sunday. “Following the investigation, NCHS establishes the correct ’cause of death’ coding.” Ekstrand also says some of the new reported deaths date back several months.There are now 319,203 total cases confirmed in Iowa from 1,472,768 people tested for COVID-19.282,477 Iowans are now classified as recovering from the virus – with 953 recoveries added in the last 24 hours.358 people are now hospitalized in Iowa because of COVID-19. 94 of those patients are in the ICU. 29 of the patients are on ventilators. 55 new patients were admitted to Iowa hospitals over the last 24-hour period measured by IDPH.Full IDPH data can be found at the state’s COVID-19 website.