TIMES-REPUBLICAN

Marshall County fell out of the top 15 counties in Iowa with the most COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic this week.

Meanwhile the United States is on pace to reach 400,000 deaths from the virus in less than two weeks.

Recording 82 cases in the last seven days, Marshall County has 4,237 positive cases recorded by the Iowa Department of Public Health. Warren County moved to 15th with 4,283 cases.

While the tally of cases was surpassed by Warren County, Marshall County has the 15th most deaths reported. Three new deaths were added to the county’s total this week including one in the last 24 hours, bringing it to 61. Warren County reports 37 deaths.

Across the state there have been 301,304 positive cases — 1,000 since Wednesday — and 4,232 deaths.

Forty-four deaths reported in Iowa were among people 18-40 years old. In the 41-60 age group there have been 289 deaths. About 60 percent of deaths were people 80 years old or older.

Only 4 percent of 80 year olds reported to have contracted COVID-19 have recovered. Six percent of people 70-79 years old have recovered.

There are 85 active outbreaks in Iowa’s long-term care facilities. None are in Marshall County. Residents of long-term care account for 1,722 deaths. Forty-four percent of those infected in these facilities have been symptomatic. Seventy-five percent of positive cases in long term care have been in females.

In the last 24 hours, 86 new patients have been hospitalized with COVID-19. Currently there are 532 people hospitalized, including 85 in intensive care and 35 on ventilators. COVID-19 infection is the primary diagnosis in 66 percent of these cases. Two percent of the patients are 18-29 years old and 27 percent are 60-69.

More than 1.4 million people have been tested for COVID-19 in Iowa, including 17,582 in Marshall County. Iowa is nearing 2 million completed assessments. Almost 60 percent of the assessments have been completed on females and 38 percent have been to adults 18-40 years old. In Marshall County, 5,732 assessments have been done. The majority — 37 percent — to 41-60 year olds.

USAFacts.org reports more than 22 million known COVID-19 cases total throughout the pandemic. On Jan. 10, 229,363 new cases were reported. The seven-day average of cases per day is 243,553. The site shows 367,856 deaths, including 2,256 on Jan. 10. The seven-day average deaths per day is 3,177.

January is on pace to be the deadliest month during the pandemic with more than 34,000 reported so far. More than 63,000 people died in December which is the deadliest month in the U.S. to date.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports more than 29 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed. In Iowa, 264,175 have been distributed which is 3,553 per 100,000 population. About 4.5 million vaccinations have been done in long term care facilities.

In a press release by IDPH Wednesday, it was recommended by the Iowa Disease Advisory Council and IDPH interim director Kelly Garcia the next phase of vaccine distribution will focus on individuals 75 years old or older and high-risk populations. This includes people with disabilities, meatpacking plant workers and people living in community settings or correctional facilities.

According to IDPH, in cases where the occupation of the person is known, the manufacturing industry has recorded the highest number of cases — 13,600. Health care workers account for 10,768 cases.

——

Contact Joe Fisher at

jfisher@timesrepublican.com