Derecho inflates COVID-19 hospitalization numbers

The derecho that blasted across Iowa last Monday caused disruptions across the state as efforts to keep COVID-19 in check continue.

As of Sunday, Aug. 16, there have been 52,433 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state, increasing the 48,821 total from the week prior by 3,612, a slight up-tick from the previous few weeks.

In total, approximately 2,097 elderly adults (age 80+); 6,816 older adults (61-80); 15,206 middle aged adults (41-60); 25,169 young adults (18-40); and 3,670 children have tested positive for the disease. These estimates are based on a percentage-based 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 520 cases.

With 40,540 cases considered recovered, that leaves roughly 10,900 Iowans currently known to be fighting the disease.

It’s not yet known the impact that last week’s derecho has had on Iowa’s testing capabilities. TestIowa sites and clinics in the harder hit areas of the storm were temporarily shut down due to damage and power loss, but are all currently back up and running. As of Sunday, 558,976 individuals have been tested with an average of $5,305 tests per day over the last week.

Current testing shows that roughly 64% of positive cases result in symptoms while 13% have been asymptomatic, with the remaining cases pending or unknown.

In addition, 44,309 Iowans have undergone serology testing for coronavirus antibodies, which would indicate that they have had the virus. Of that number, 2,915, about 7%, have tested positive for antibodies.

The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients spiked this week to 283, with 85 patients in an ICU. However, this number may have been inflated due to last week’s storms, which forced recovering patients being treated in long-term care facilities or home to be transferred back into a hospital.

At the same time, COVID-19 related deaths dropped from the previous week, with 44 reported deaths bringing the state total to 975. Approximately 458 elderly, 400 older adults, 98 middle aged adults, and 20 young adults have died from the virus since the pandemic began.

Of the new deaths, 23 have been attributed to long term care facilities, bringing the total deaths in long term care facilities to 521. In Iowa the number of facilities reporting outbreaks has increased by three, with 29 now reporting outbreaks and 915 individuals testing positive and 543 considered recovered.