COVID-19 testing is still delayed after the holiday period

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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 holidays.

As of 10:30 a.m. Sunday, the Iowa Department of Public Health said 620 people in Iowa who had tested positive for COVID-19 were added to the state’s current total, which is 274,933 people since the onset of the pandemic. A total of 228,762 people are estimated to be recovering from the disease, with an increase of 1,092 as of Saturday morning.

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.

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

On Sunday morning there were 553 people in Iowa hospitals, with a net decrease of five. 109 of these people were in intensive care units, with a net decrease of five. 65 of these patients required the use of one ventilator, a net increase of two. 71 new patients admitted in the last 24 hours were reported, similar to the total on Saturday morning.

1,897 more people obtained test results reported by public and private labs over the past 24 hours, a figure significantly lower than in recent days due to Christmas. The positivity rate for this batch of tests was 32.7%, higher than the 24% rate in the Saturday morning report. 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 1,341,398 people in Iowa have been tested since the beginning of the pandemic.

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