COVID-19 cases keep falling in Iowa, but hospitalizations rise over previous week – Des Moines Register

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Kelsey Kremer, Des Moines Register

The number of people hospitalized in Iowa with COVID-19 rose for the first time in ten weeks, but remained low, according to data released Wednesday by the Iowa Department of Public Health and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last week, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 fell below 100 for just the second time since the pandemic ramped up in 2020. It remained below 100 this week, but increased slightly, from 67 to 74.

The number of people requiring intensive care for COVID-19 complications also rose this week, from 11 to 15. Both numbers are much lower than they've been for most of the pandemic.

New reported COVID-19 cases, however, continued to decline. There were 478 new COVID-19 cases reported this week, or an average of about 68 per day. That would make this the week with the third-fewest new reported cases since April 2020.

That data would not include people who do not take COVID-19 tests because they have asymptomatic cases, or people who do not report the results of their at-home tests to the health department.

There were also fewer COVID-19 deaths reported this week: 43, the first time there have been fewer than 50 COVID-19 deaths reported in one week since September 2021. Deaths tend to lag behind new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, and may not be reported publicly on the state's COVID-19 website until several months after they occur.

There was no visible increase in the percentage of Iowans fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the state health department. That percentage remained at 58.2%, meaning any increase would have been less than one-tenth of 1% of the state's population.

Read more on COVID-19 in Iowa:

The latest data, as of 12 a.m. Wednesday, March 30, compared to the previous Wednesday:

Note: Data on total tests, positivity rate, and total recovered Iowans are no longer available on the health department's updated COVID dashboard.

Note: Hospitalization data for COVID-19 is no longer available through the Iowa Department of Public Health. The data below is from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The number of patients on ventilators is no longer included.

In Polk County, 65.9% of residents are fully vaccinated, about the same number as one week ago.

In Dallas County, 66.6% of residents are fully vaccinated, an increase of 0.3 percentage points.

The five counties in Iowa with the highest percentage of their population fully vaccinated as of March 23 are Johnson (69.6%), Buena Vista (67.1%), Dallas (66.6%), Polk (65.9%) and Linn (65%) counties.

Tim Webber is a data visualization specialist for the Register. Reach him at twebber@registermedia.com, 515-284-8532, and on Twitter at @HelloTimWebber.

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COVID-19 cases keep falling in Iowa, but hospitalizations rise over previous week - Des Moines Register