(Des Moines) Iowa’s positive COVID-19 cases continue to trend lower.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds reported at Wednesday’s media briefing the statewide positivity rate is now in single-digits, 8.6-percent over the past 14-days, and 6.4-percent over the past seven.
On Tuesday, there were 292 Iowans hospitalized due to COVID-19, down 89-percent since the all-time high in mid-November, and the first time since September, hospitalizations have dropped below 300. Additionally, 49 new patients were admitted in the past 24-hours, down from the high of 243 in mid-November. Sixty-seven patients were in ICU’s, down 90-percent during record levels during that same time frame. Long term care facility outbreaks dropped to 33, from an all-time high of 166.
The Governor reminds Iowans the guidelines were put in place back in the evening hours of November 16, when she addressed the state on how serious the situation had become and asked Iowans to help.
The Governor says we know what we need to do, and it doesn’t take a government mandate to do it. Before November, she says that Iowa didn’t have a mask mandate, but most Iowans wore masks, and she’s confident they will continue to do so. Reynolds says she trusts business owners will continue to make decisions on how they operate in the best interest of their customers and employees, just as they’ve been doing for months.
