COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations surging in Iowa

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - After a week of surging COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations for the virus also jumped Friday to their highest levels in more than a year.

The Iowa Department of Public Health reported 24,935 new positive tests for COVID-19 in the past week. That’s up from 7,233 for the week prior and continues three consecutive reports of sharp increases. That’s the highest 7-day total since a surge of COVID-19 in November of 2020.

Hospitalizations, which had remained relatively flat even as positive test counts rose, also rose sharply on Friday to 898, according to the state’s website. That’s up from 16% from the 773 hospitalized a week ago.

72.5% of those hospitalized are unvaccinated, a rate that has fallen from 80% a week ago. But unvaccinated patients in the ICU remains relatively steady, making up 81.3% of the 176 COVID-19 patients in the ICU.

The state reported a 26% positivity rate on January 4th - the highest single-day rate since April of 2020. That helped push the state’s rolling 14-day positivity rate to 17.5%, up from 11.9% a week ago and the highest in months.

Linn County saw the highest 7-day test positivity rate in the state as of Friday at 27%. Johnson County this week reported 1,711 positive tests, the most it has ever reported in a single week since the start of the pandemic.