contributed photo Deaths are down 57 percent and hospitalizations 35 percent lower in Iowa in the past two weeks.

The Marshalltown Community School District confirmed three new cases of COVID-19 among students and employees on Friday:

• Total cases among students: two

• Total cases among staff: one

Compared to previous weekly COVID reports, the amount of cases in the school district has been decreasing. On Feb. 19, there were five confirmed cases. The highest number of cases in a single week for January was 16. In November, the COVID case count peaked with 34 confirmed in a week.

The district started weekly COVID-19 case reports on Sept. 18, in which seven cases were confirmed.

A report on the number of COVID-19 cases within the district is shared weekly on Fridays. Each report shares the total number of new, confirmed cases among students and staff members throughout the district since the time of the previous report.

The weekly COVID-19 reports focus exclusively on new, confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the time of the previous report.

To protect the privacy of students and employees, the reports do not include information regarding any individual person, position or title, classroom or activity, age group, grade level or school building.

The COVID-19 reports are shared with families and staff by email. They are also posted on the district website, as well as MCSD’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

The next report will be released March 5.