COVID-19 test still late after vacation

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – The total number of tests for the new coronavirus reported in new data on Sunday morning remained low, probably due to the Christmas holiday.

As of 10:30 am on Sunday, the Iowa Department of Public Health said that 620 people in Iowa who tested positive for COVID-19 were added to the state’s current total, which is 274,933 people since the pandemic began. A total of 228,762 people are considered recovered from the disease, an increase of 1,092 since Saturday morning.

TestIowa, the state-run testing program, closed on Thursday, December 24, and remained closed on Friday for the Christmas holiday. This was probably a factor that contributed to the reduced number of people who tested positive and fewer tests in general. A similar drop in testing, compared to other days, was seen around the Thanksgiving holiday in late November.

An additional person who died of COVID-19 was added to the state total. A total of 3,745 people died from the virus in the state.

553 people were in Iowa hospitals on Sunday morning, a net reduction of five. 109 of these people were in intensive care units, a net reduction of five. 65 of these patients required the use of a ventilator, a net increase of two. 71 newly admitted patients were notified in the last 24 hours, similar to the total on Saturday morning.

Another 1,897 people had test results reported by public and private laboratories in the past 24 hours, significantly less than the most recent days due to Christmas. The positivity rate for this batch of tests was 32.7%, higher than the rate of 24% in the Saturday morning report. The positivity rate calculated using this method may differ from the number on the state coronavirus panel, due to the fact that it uses the number of people tested, not the total number of tests, including people who have been tested repeatedly.

A total of 1,341,398 people in Iowa have been tested since the pandemic began.

Copyright 2020 KCRG. All rights reserved.