New COVID-19 cases down, hospitalizations up in Iowa's weekly coronavirus data update

Tim Webber, Des Moines Register
·2 min read

New reported COVID-19 cases dropped slightly in Iowa this week, but hospitalizations for the disease increased, according to data released Wednesday by the Iowa Department of Public Health and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Over the past seven days, 4,802 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Iowa, according to the state health department, or an average of about 686 per day. It's a small decrease from the week prior, when the state averaged about 703 cases per day.

This is the fourth consecutive week that new reported COVID-19 cases have fallen after peaking around 846 cases per day in the week ending July 27.

In each case, the actual number of new COVID-19 cases is likely higher, as those numbers do not include people who are positive but asymptomatic and choose not to get tested, nor would they include people who test positive at home but do not report their result to the county or state health departments. Polk and Johnson counties are among the few Iowa locales that provide a way for residents to report their at-home test results.

More: Few counties collect information on at-home COVID tests. How does that impact pandemic tracking?

Most of the region's new COVID-19 cases — roughly 4 in 5 — are of the omicron subvariant BA.5, which nationally makes up nearly 90% of the country's recent COVID-19 cases, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer this week asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization for a new booster designed to specifically target the BA.5 subvariant, and could make it available within weeks to anyone over 12.

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Iowa increased this week to 264, according to the federal health and human services department. Of those, 30 patients were in intensive care units, up from 27 last week.

The state health department reported an additional 25 COVID-19 deaths over the past seven days, raising Iowa's death toll for the pandemic to 9,907. Most of those deaths likely occurred earlier than last week, as it often takes some time for the health department to verify and publicly report COVID-19 deaths on its website.

The latest COVID-19 numbers in Iowa

The latest data in Iowa since March 2020 for the pandemic, as of 12 a.m. Aug. 24, compared to one week earlier:

  • Confirmed cases: 837,739, an increase of 4,802.

  • Deaths: 9,907, an increase of 25.

Data on the state vaccination rate is now updated once a month on the state health department website. As of Aug. 3, 59.2% of Iowans were fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

How many people are hospitalized with COVID-19 in Iowa?

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.

  • Hospitalizations: 264, up from 244 one week ago

  • Patients in intensive care: 30, up from 27

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

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: COVID-19 in Iowa: New cases down, hospitalizations up in weekly update