DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) – The number of people tested for the new coronavirus in Iowa showed a sharp drop as state facilities shut down for Christmas, according to new data this Saturday.
As of 10:30 a.m., the Iowa Department of Public Health said an additional 299 people had tested positive for COVID-19 as of Friday, bringing the state’s total to 274,313. . It is estimated that 277,670 people are recovering from the disease.
TestIowa, the state testing program, closed early Thursday morning and remained closed Friday for the Christmas holidays. This was probably a factor that contributed to the reduction in the number of people who tested positive and to a smaller number of tests in general. A similar drop in testing, compared to other days, was observed near the Thanksgiving holiday in late November.
No additional people who have died from COVID-19 were added to the state total in the last 24 hours. The total number of people who have died from the disease during the pandemic is 3,744.
The total number of people in Iowa hospitals due to COVID-19 was 558, a net decrease of 42 people. This is the lowest total number of hospitalized due to the virus since October 25. 114 of these people are in intensive care units, with a net decrease of seven. 63 of these patients require the use of a ventilator, a net decrease of six. 76 people were recently admitted to Iowa hospitals because of the disease, less than the previous three days.
1,247 more people obtained test results reported by public and private laboratories over the past 24 hours, a number significantly lower than in recent days. The positivity rate for this batch of tests was 24.0%, on the second day in a row, with a rate of less than 30% by this calculation. This is the first time there have been two consecutive days of a positivity rate of less than 30% since the end of October. The positivity rate calculated with this method may differ from the number of the state coronavirus dashboard, due to the fact that it uses the number of people tested, not the overall number of tests, including people who have been tested repeatedly. .
A total of 1,339,501 people in Iowa have been tested since the beginning of the pandemic.
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