Iowa’s COVID-19 death rate among highest in US, report says
FILE - This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus causes COVID-19. The sample was isolated from a patient in the U.S. On Tuesday, April 21, 2020, U.S. health regulators OK'd the first coronavirus test that allows people to collect their own sample at home, a new approach that could help expand testing options in most states. The sample will still have to be shipped for processing back to LabCorp, which operates diagnostic labs throughout the U.S.[NIAID-RML via AP]
Federal experts are warning that Iowa has among the nation’s highest coronavirus death and infection rates and say residents should avoid gatherings in most counties to protect themselves from the virus.
A White House Coronavirus Task Force report found that the virus infected and killed about twice as many people per capita in Iowa as the national average between Oct. 10 and Oct. 16.
The report says new case numbers have climbed for weeks and the state’s test positivity rate also rose.
Iowa hospitals are facing a surge of coronavirus patients, with a record 536 hospitalized on Thursday.