40+ new COVID-19 death reports in Iowa while state surpasses 125,000 fully vaccinated

DES MOINES, Iowa  — The Iowa Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 data shows an increase of 624 confirmed cases of the virus from 10:00 a.m. on February 16 to 10:00 a.m. on February 17. Those new cases come from 3,431 new tests. The positivity rate of those new tests is 18.2%

IDPH officials tell Iowa’s News now there is an “issue” regarding a large report of new tests seen in Tuesday morning’s data and that they’re “working on understanding it.” The jump in test reports didn’t come along with a correlating jump in new cases reports that would be consistent with recent positivity rates – leading to a 24-hour rate under five percent for the first time in several months.

125,558 people in Iowa are now completely vaccinated against COVID-19 – 2,427 more than Tuesday morning.

43 new deaths were reported over the last 24-hour stretch – with 5,306 Iowans now dead from COVID-19 during the pandemic.

There are now 330,436 total cases confirmed in Iowa from 1,528,671 people tested for COVID-19.

305,273 Iowans are now classified as recovering from the virus – with 1,561 recoveries added in the last 24 hours.

235 people are now hospitalized in Iowa because of COVID-19. 52 of those patients are in the ICU. 20 of the patients are on ventilators. 44 new patients were admitted to Iowa hospitals over the last 24-hour period measured by IDPH.