The spread of COVID-19 is again increasing across Iowa, including in Marshall County.

The county’s seven-day positivity rate is up to 5.5 percent, which is about a 0.5 percent higher than it was a week ago. There have been 102 positive tests recorded in the county in the last week. At-home testing is not reported to the Iowa Department of Public Health so the true number of positives could be higher.

There have been 5,786 positive tests recorded in Marshall County and 4,897 people have recovered. Cases are counted as recovered 14 days after a positive test. Marshall County has had the 16th most cases in the state.

Seventy-nine deaths have been reported in Marshall County related to COVID-19, but there were no new deaths this week.

Iowa’s seven-day positivity rate is 8.6 percent, which is also up from a week ago. There have been 441,889 positive tests with 6,307 deaths. Fifty-seven percent of those who have died were 80 years old or older.

There are 524 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Iowa, including 79 patients admitted in the last 24 hours. Sixty-six people are on ventilators and 143 are in intensive care. COVID-19 infection is the primary diagnosis in 373 hospitalization cases.

Marshall County Public Health Nurse Pat Thompson said many people are feeling fatigue on the topic of COVID-19, but high vaccination numbers will help us come out of the pandemic.

“Even I have it,” she said of COVID fatigue. “We have to be honest; we’re tired. The problem is we’re not done yet. The more people we have vaccinated, the sooner we’re done and we’re going to keep going round and round until we get a handle on it.”

Marshall County is outpacing the state’s vaccination rate, surpassing 53 percent of residents fully, or 20,849. Forty-nine percent of Iowans are vaccinated according to IDPH. More than 40,000 doses have been administered in Marshall County.

Across the state, 3.2 million vaccine doses have been administered. The Pfizer vaccine accounts for the most doses of the vaccine options with more than 1.8 million doses.

More than 79 percent of people receiving a vaccine dose are White; 29 percent are 65 years old or older; 3.8 percent are Hispanic or Latino and 53 percent are female.

Eighty-two percent of fully vaccinated people are 65 or older. Forty-four percent are White, while 57 percent are categorized as “Other Race.”

Thompson said it will be difficult to draw connections between increased virus activity and the start of school with many activities taking place at the same time.

“We’ve got school starting. Iowa and Iowa State games coming up. Halloween and Thanksgiving,” she said. “One thing that would help us is having adults get vaccinated to keep kids from getting sick.”

COVID-19 IN MARSHALL COUNTY

Seven day percent of positive test rate: 5.5-percent

Seven day No. of cases: 102

CDC transmission level: HIGH

COVID vaccine doses: More than 39,500

Fully vaccinated: 53 percent, 20,849

One-dose vaccinations: 3,259

New deaths this week: 0

Total deaths: 79

MORE INFORMATION:

Marshall County Public Health Nurse Pat Thompson asks for people with hesitancy about receiving a vaccination to reach out to her with questions. She can be reached at pthompson@marshallcountyia.gov or by calling her office at 641-844-2799.

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Contact Joe Fisher at news@timesrepublican.com.