COVID-19 pandemic easing slightly in Iowa but XBB.1.5 on the rise, weekly update shows

Tim Webber, Des Moines Register
·4 min read

The COVID-19 pandemic appeared to ease slightly in Iowa this week, according to data released Wednesday by the Iowa Department of Public Health and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Iowa declined week over week, from 248 down to 222, the federal health and human services department said. That’s the fewest number of COVID-19 patients in the state at the time of a weekly update since November. Of those hospitalized with COVID-19, however, 23 required intensive care — six more than at this time last week.

There were slightly fewer cases of COVID-19 reported in this week’s update, according to the state health department. The state added 2,201 reported cases to its tally, or about 314 new reported cases per day. (Last week, the state reported about 322 new cases per day.)

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention appears to have retroactively revised down the share of cases caused by the new XBB.1.5 variant — a more contagious but thus far apparently no more lethal strain that in recent weeks has become one of the dominant strains in the country.

But the share is still growing. Nationally, the XBB.1.5 strain accounted for about 28% of new cases in the week ending Jan. 7, up from about what the CDC is now reporting as 18% the week prior.

In Iowa’s region, which also includes Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, the XBB.1.5 variant was responsible for slightly less than 6% of reported cases in the week ending Jan. 7. That’s up from 3% the previous week.

More:XBB.1.5 is more contagious than Omicron—these products can help prevent infection

Existing COVID-19 vaccinations appear to remain effective at preventing severe disease from the new variant, but efforts to vaccinate more Iowans have continued to stall.

In the state health department's monthly vaccination update, containing data as of Jan. 9, only a tenth of one percent of the state's population became fully vaccinated since the previous month's update. (Fully vaccinated, in this case, means having received both doses of an initial two-dose sequence or one dose of a single-dose sequence.)

Sixty percent of the state is now fully vaccinated, but only about 17% of Iowans — roughly one in six — have also received one of the new bivalent booster dose. The bivalent doses were designed for particular effectiveness against the newer omicron variants, and appear to also be effective against the XBB.1.5 variant.

The Iowa Department of Public Health reported 45 more COVID-19 deaths this week, raising the state's death toll for the pandemic to 10,508. While most of those deaths would likely have occurred prior to the past week — it takes time for the state health department to verify and publicly report COVID-19 deaths — that's still the most COVID-19 deaths reported in a single week since September 2022.

The latest COVID-19 numbers in Iowa

The latest data in Iowa since March 2020 for the pandemic, as of midnight Jan. 11, compared with one week earlier:

  • Confirmed cases: 890,868, an increase of 2,201.

  • Deaths: 10,508, an increase of 45.

Iowa is updating COVID-19 vaccination data once per month. As of Jan. 9, 60.0% of the state's population was fully vaccinated against COVID-19, having received either both doses of a two-dose sequence or one dose of a single-dose sequence.

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: 222, down from 248 one week ago.

  • Patients in intensive care: 23, up from 17.

How many people in Polk and Dallas counties are vaccinated?

In Polk County, 67.9% of residents are fully vaccinated, according to this month's new data. That's an increase of 0.2 percentage points over the previous month.

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

The five counties in Iowa with the highest percentage of their population fully vaccinated as of Dec. 4 are Johnson (71.7%), Buena Vista (69.0%), Polk (67.9%), Marshall (67.5%) and Linn (66.7%) 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.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: COVID-19 in Iowa: Pandemic appears to ease, but XBB.1.5 on the rise