New COVID-19 cases continue a slow decline as the state opens up. 

This week saw an increase of 10 percent in reported positive cases with 759 cases reported last Thursday to 841 reported cases this week in Marshall County. Overall there were 83 new cases of COVID-19 reported.

According to the Iowa Department of Health data in Iowa, 56 percent of the reported cases of COVID-19 have been from white people, 10 percent have been Asian, 12 percent have African American and 26 percent have been Latino. 

The IDPH reported 422 new cases on Thursday. There are 15,956 positive cases in the state. Of those, 8,528 have recovered.

More men than women have reportedly been infected with 50 percent of the cases being male and 47 percent being female. 

People between the ages of 18 and 40 made up the majority of confirmed cases with 42 percent, people between the ages of 41 and 60 made up 36 percent, people between the ages 61 and 80 make up 14 percent, people over 81 make 5 percent and 3 percent have been under 18. 

Businesses and local governments are asking residents to continue to wear masks in public and practice social distancing. Oftentimes people without symptoms can still pass on COVID-19. 

People can be asymptomatic, which means they show no symptoms of a virus, but they are still carrying it. 

Overall Iowa’s cases have slightly slowed as the state starts to open up businesses. Iowa’s cases have increased by 18 percent. Last week ended with 13,675 confirmed cases and this week comes to a close with 16,144 with 2,469 additional cases reported.

There were 251 more new cases this week than last week but a slightly smaller percentage increase than last week. 

Marshall County has the fifth highest number of COVID-19 confirmed cases. In front are Polk with 3,380, Woodbury with 2,443, Black Hawk with 1,652 and Linn with 909.

Marshall County has two recorded outbreaks in long-term care facilities. The Iowa Veterans Home has had 32 positive cases of COVID-19, with 15 recovered and Accura HealthCare of Marshalltown has had 39 cases, with five recovered.

The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) COVID-19 website has a page about serology tests conducted in the state. Serology tests detect antibodies formed by white blood cells in response to virus and bacteria. The tests are conducted on people who have recovered from COVID-19.

There have been 13,173 serology tests conducted statewide, eight of them were positive in Marshall County.

At least 405 Iowans have died from COVID-19 and seven of those deaths were residents of Marshall County. Which was an increase of 30 percent from last week. 

There have been 110,214 COVID-19 tests conducted. Across the state, 475,106 Test Iowa assessments have been conducted – 1,712 in Marshall County.

A public hotline has been established for questions about COVID-19 in Iowa. It is available 24/7 by calling 2-1-1 or 1-800-244-7431.