Iowa passes 300,000 COVID-19 cases

More than 300,000 Iowans have tested positive for COVID-19 since last March when the virus first appeared in Iowa.
Iowa on Thursday reported 1,553 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total to 301,471, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health.
The state’s seven-day average of new cases is 1,439.
Thursday’s new cases came out of 5,169 tests completed between 11 a.m. Wednesday and 11 a.m. Thursday, for a one-day positivity rate of 30 percent.
As of Thursday, 44 of Iowa’s 99 counties report 14-day positivity rates above 15 percent, according to a Gazette analysis of public health data.
Thursday’s new cases included 248 cases among children ages 17 and younger. No new cases were recorded among education workers. To date, 32,015 children and 7,684 education workers have tested positive for the virus.
Linn County reported 52 new cases Thursday and a seven-day average of 61.
Johnson County added 56 cases, with a seven-day average of 56.
Deaths
Nineteen additional deaths were reported Thursday, bringing the state’s death toll to 4,251.
Polk County reported four deaths. Dickinson and Scott counties reported three deaths each, and Dubuque County reported two deaths.
Counties reporting one death each were Allamakee, Benton, Cerro Gordo, Delaware, Louisa, Marshall and Pottawattamie.
Hospitalizations
The state also saw an increase number of hospitalizations.
As of 11 a.m. Thursday, 532 individuals were hospitalized, up 16 from the previous 24-hour period.
The number of patients being treated in intensive care units also rose, from 79 to 85, and the number of patients requiring ventilators to help them breathe climbed from 30 to 35.
Long-term care
Data shows 85 long-term care facilities in Iowa are dealing with COVID-19 outbreaks, defined as three or more cases among residents and staff, with 1,991 cases reported in the facilities.
To date, 1,722 deaths — 41.7 percent of the state’s total — have been at long-term care facility.
Northbrook Manor Care Center in Cedar Rapids reported four new recoveries, with 45 active cases.
Lantern Park Specialty Care in Johnson County is reporting 31 cases, an increase of one from Wednesday. with 27 recoveries.
In Buchanan County, the ABCM Rehabilitation Centers of Independence East Campus was removed from the outbreak list.