Iowa saw a record surge in reported coronavirus infections Friday, due to an accelerating spread of the virus and a shift in how the state …
Iowa saw a record surge in reported coronavirus infections Friday, due to an accelerating spread of the virus and a shift in how the state reports some positive tests for it. The Iowa Department of Public Health reported 2,663 more confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and 12 more deaths from COVID-19, the disease it causes, from 10 a.m. Thursday to 10 a.m. Friday. More than 1,000 of the newly confirmed positive cases were due to the department’s decision this week to start including positive results from rapid, antigen tests. Iowa’s coronavirus pandemic has been ramping up in recent weeks, largely because of a surge in cases among young adults, officials have said. However, the deaths continue to be concentrated among the elderly, especially those living in nursing homes. The state health department reported that 587 of the Iowa’s 1,091 COVID-19 deaths have been among nursing home residents. By Friday afternoon,36 current nursing home outbreaks were listed on the state’s coronavirus website, up from 15 in mid-July. State officials had been counting positive antigen tests as “inconclusive,” because the rapid tests aren’t quite as accurate as more common PCR tests, which usually take longer to yield results.
