Iowa to slow public COVID-19 data reporting, wind down site by late summer

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - The state of Iowa is about to slow down COVID-19 data reporting to the public and turn off some parts of its data website with a goal of decommissioning the entire site by late summer.

The state’s data website became a key tool during the pandemic to share data and trends on positive cases, deaths, testing, hospitalizations, outbreaks and more, all of which have fallen dramatically since a surge in cases in November and the introduction of vaccines over the winter. However, the state site is still reporting dozens of cases per day (270 in the past week) and several deaths per day (29 from Monday to Wednesday).

In a memo sent to local public health departments last week, the Iowa Department of Public Health says it is part of a “transition to COVID-19 pandemic recovery”. The memo then details parts of public data that will cease starting July 7th:

Long-term care outbreaks, serology, occupation data, underlying conditions and Test Iowa assessments will be removed from the live site.
Transitioning from live-updating data to a weekly data update on Wednesdays

The memo notes several states and the CDC have reduced data reporting frequency.

By late summer, the state plans to decommission and archive the coronavirus data website and issue weekly reports, similar to the flu reports it issues.