Two more COVID-19 related deaths were reported in Marshall County this week by the Iowa Department of Public Health.

Fifty-five people have died in the county since the start of the pandemic. There have been 3,993 cases.

Iowa has recorded 278,959 cases and 3,822 deaths total. Ninety-two percent of those who have died had known preexisting conditions but only 315 had a disease or condition contributing to the death.

USAfacts.org reports one new death in Iowa on Dec. 27, which is the most recent date reported as of the print deadline for this story. There were 620 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 274,933. Marshall County has 10,015 cases per 100,000 population according to the site.

USAfacts counts more than 18.7 million known cases and 325,514 deaths throughout the United States. There were 122,361 new cases and 1,151 deaths on Dec. 27.

There are 612 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Iowa, including 127 in intensive care and 66 on ventilators. In the last 24 hours, 105 people were admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 infection.

Of the hospitalized patients, 65 percent (392) are hospitalized with COVID-19 as the primary diagnosis. The largest number of patients are aged 60-69 — 27 percent. Patients 18-29 make up 11 percent of hospitalizations.

Long term care facilities are still being impacted by the virus at a high rate with 113 active outbreaks. The facilities have been tied to 1,139 deaths. According to IDPH, Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown is still considered in outbreak status with 16 positive cases, though these figures have been disputed by the facility and the site does not clarify whether the infections are among staff or residents. Fifty percent of COVID-19 positives tied to long term care are symptomatic.

There have been more than 1.9 million Test Iowa assessments completed, including 5,670 in Marshall County. A majority of the tests have been administered to females — more than 59 percent. Only about 1 percent of the tests were to people 80 years old or older.

Gov. Kim Reynolds has not held a press conference this week to address the pandemic as has become customary in recent months. Her last press conference was Dec. 22.

Marshalltown began receiving some of its first coronavirus vaccinations last week. Health care workers at UnityPoint – Marshalltown were given the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine starting Dec. 23.

ACCORDING TO IDPH DATA:

Race:

• Caucasian: 61 percent

• Hispanic or Latino: 6 percent

• African American: 3 percent

• Asian: 2 percent

Sex:

• Female: 52 percent

• Male: 46 percent

Age:

• 0-17: 13 percent

• 18-29: 18 percent

• 30-39: 15 percent

• 40-49: 15 percent

• 50-59: 15 percent

• 60-69: 14 percent

• 70-79: 6 percent

• 80 or older: 6 percent

Marshall County has the 15th highest number of total COVID-19 cases in Iowa

The counties with highest numbers include

CASES ACTIVE

Polk – 40,992 5,991

Linn – 16,492 1,645

Scott – 13,993 2,102

Black Hawk – 12,689 1,299

Woodbury – 12,209 1,366

Johnson – 11,020 1,229

Dubuque – 10,557 1,025

Pottawattamie – 8,190 1,132

Story – 7,952 894

Dallas – 7,846 1,212

Webster – 4,419 635

Sioux – 4,314 423

Cerro Gordo – 4,308 556

Clinton – 4,106 614

Marshall – 3,917 378

Contact Joe Fisher at 641-753-6611 or jfisher@timesrepublican.com