On the heels of reporting record numbers of Iowans hospitalized this year due to COVID-19, health officials announced the state’s first confirmation of the Omicron variant. The Iowa Department of Public Health released the following on Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021: The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) and the State Hygienic Lab (SHL) confirmdetection of […]
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Category: health
COVID-19 deaths hit another high in Iowa
UPDATE: As of Nov. 3, 2021, Iowa has surpassed 7,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths, with 7,069 deaths reported since the beginning of the pandemic, an increase of 104 in the past week alone. Late last week, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law a bill that allows workers to skirt a federal vaccine mandate by claiming religious […]
COVID-19 hospitalizations spike as Iowa ...
A late-night posting of Iowa’s COVID-19 hospitalization data shows numbers skyrocketing just as the state’s biggest event of the year kicks off. The Iowa State Fair, which runs Aug. 12-22, 2021, has attracted more than 1 million visitors in recent years, with the exception of 2020, when it was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. […]
Iowa lags as U.S. hits vaccination goal ...
As of Aug. 2, 2021, the United States finally reached President Joe Biden’s goal of 70 percent of adult Americans with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. While Biden had advocated to reach that target by July 4, the milestone came nearly a month late, even as the more highly transmissible Delta variant leads […]
Reconstructed railroad bridge connects t...
MARION, Iowa — A bridge that once shouldered cattle cars, passenger trains and more is now taking on lighter loads as part of the CeMar Trail through Marion. Community leaders, Linn County Trails Association members, railroad buffs and others celebrated the reconstruction of the former Milwaukee Railroad bridge over Indian Creek during a ribbon-cutting ceremony […]
Iowa eliminates reporting data as COVID-...
Iowa is no longer reporting COVID-19 outbreaks at nursing homes and other data, even as cases have been increasing. As of Wednesday, July 7, 2021, the state’s coronavirus dashboard eliminated long-term care facility tracking, as well as Test Iowa assessments, serology, occupation data and underlying conditions. The Iowa Department of Public Health has cited its […]
Iowa ending COVID-19 Test Iowa program
Test Iowa, the COVID-19 testing program the state has used since April 2020, will end operations on July 16, 2021, though some sites will close as soon as next week. The initial $26 million, no-bid contract with a Utah company came about upon actor Ashton Kutcher’s recommendation to Gov. Kim Reynolds. Related: Test Iowa results […]
Iowa hits grim milestone in COVID-19 dea...
Iowa reached a grim COVID-19 milestone on Saturday, May 15, 2021, with 6,000 deaths reported since the pandemic began. Of those, 2,335 deaths are tied to outbreaks at Iowa long-term care facilities. As of May 15, just one nursing home reported an outbreak: Risen Son Christian Village in Council Bluffs, in western Iowa, which reported […]
COVID-19 variant first detected in India...
Public health officials announced Tuesday, May 4, 2021, that a new COVID-19 variant has been confirmed in Iowa. According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, two cases of the COVID-19 variant, SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617, were confirmed in adults in Jefferson County, in southeastern Iowa. The variant is referred to as the “India variant” because it […]
One year later: Iowa’s COVID-19 death to
On March 24, 2020, Iowa officials announced the state’s first death due to COVID-19. One year later, 5,683 Iowans have died, with more than one-third of those — 2,224 — related to COVID-19 outbreaks at nursing homes. The first Iowan to die of the virus was a Dubuque County resident between the ages of 61 […]