COVID-19 testing still lagging behind after holiday season

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – The total number of tests for the new coronavirus reported in new data Sunday morning has remained low, probably due to the Christmas holidays.

At 10:30 a.m. Sunday, the Iowa Department of Public Health said 620 people in Iowa who tested positive for COVID-19 had been added to the state’s running total, which stands at 274,933 people since the start of the pandemic. A total of 228,762 people are considered recovering from the disease, an increase of 1,092 since Saturday morning.

TestIowa, the state-run testing program, closed early on Thursday, December 24 and remained closed for the Christmas holidays on Friday. This was probably a contributing factor in the reduced number of people who tested positive and overall. A similar drop in testing, compared to other days, was observed near the Thanksgiving holiday in late November.

Another person who died of COVID-19 has been added to the state’s total. A total of 3,745 people died in the state due to the virus.

553 people were in Iowa hospitals Sunday morning, a net decrease of five. 109 of the persons were in intensive care units, a net decrease of five. 65 of the patients required the use of a ventilator, a net increase of two. 71 patients admitted recently were reported in the past 24 hours, similar to the total Saturday morning.

An additional 1897 people have reported test results by public and private laboratories over the past 24 hours, a significantly lower number than in recent days due to Christmas. The positivity rate for this group of tests was 32.7%, higher than the 24% rate in the Saturday morning report. The positivity rate calculated with this method may differ from the number on the coronavirus dashboard of the state because it uses the number of people tested, not the total number of tests, including people who have been tested repeatedly.

A total of 1,341,398 people in Iowa have been tested since the onset of the pandemic.

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