Active COVID-19 cases in Iowa increase by 33 percent in one week

New cases of COVID-19 in Iowa continue to surge, as the spread of the disease across the state accelerates.

As of Sunday, November 1, there have been 130,696 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state, increasing the 115,842 total from the week before by 14,854 cases, a colossal increase of new cases that nearly matches the number of new cases from the previous two weeks combined.

In total, approximately 5,228 elderly adults (age 80+); 19,604 older adults (61-80); 36,594 middle aged adults (41-60); 57,506 young adults (18-40); and 11,763 children have tested positive for the disease. These estimates are based on a percentage breakdown of the state’s reported positive cases. As the total number of cases increase, the less accurate these estimates will become. A single percentage point difference can change an estimate by more than 1,300 cases.

With 93,557 cases considered recovered, that leaves roughly 35,422 Iowans currently known to be fighting the disease, an increase of 8,964 from the previous week. This marks a 33% increase in active cases over the last seven days.

981,857 individuals have been tested since the start of the pandemic, including 899,803 PCR tests and 82,054 by antigen tests. An average of 4,900 PCR tests per day were counted over the last week along with a total of 10,016 new antigen tests. Though, without the number of repeat tests, it’s unknown exactly how many tests the state has performed.

Current testing shows that roughly 60% of positive cases result in symptoms while 12% have been asymptomatic, with the remaining cases pending or unknown.

In addition, 67,575 Iowans have undergone serology testing for coronavirus antibodies, which would indicate that they have had the virus. Of that number, 3,911, about 6%, have tested positive for antibodies.

Cases requiring hospitalization also continues to rise, with now six consecutive weeks of increases, reaching a new high on Sunday with 718 Iowans hospitalized with the disease and 156 in an ICU.

After a large spike in deaths in the previous week, COVID-19 deaths have dropped slightly, with 82 dying from the disease in the last seven days, bringing the total death count in Iowa to 1,717.

In total, approximately 855 elderly (49.8%), 689 older adults (40.13%), 147 middle aged adults (8.56%), 25 young adults (1.46%), and one child (.06%) have died from the virus since the pandemic began.

Of the new deaths, 32 have been attributed to outbreaks in long term care facilities, bringing the number of deaths in long term care facilities to 840.

The number of long term care facilities reporting outbreaks also saw a large spike this week, increasing by 14, with 81 facilities now reporting outbreaks consisting of 2,379 positive individuals with 956 considered recovered.

While Governor Kim Reynolds has not addressed the accelerated spread of the disease over the last several weeks, it was recently announced that the state has allocated $6 million in federal CARES Act funds to go towards the Iowa County Fairs Relief Program. This program, offered through the Iowa Economic Development Authority, will provide short-term relief to county and district fairs that suffered a revenue loss over the last year due to COVID-19.