Northwest Iowa — One resident of the four-county area of Lyon, Sioux, O’Brien and Osceola Counties has died of a COVID-related illness in the past seven days, with 85 tests coming back positive in that same time frame.
According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, the lone death was that of an Osceola County resident, taking that counties death toll to 15 since the pandemic began. Across the four-county area, a total of 180 people have lost their lives to the pandemic in the past year. 69 of those in Sioux County, 54 in O’Brien County, 44 in Lyon County and 15 in Osceola County.
Eighty-five positive test results were returned in the past seven days, according to the IDPH. Sioux County reports 38 positive results, with a 7% of the tests coming back positive; O’Brien and Osceola County each reported 16 positive tests, with Osceola County reporting an 11% positivity rate, while O’Brien’s rate was just 4%. Lyon County reported 15 positive tests since last Monday, with 8% positive tests.
Statewide, as of mid-afternoon Monday (March 29th) there were zero long-term care facilities reporting a COVID outbreak.
Also statewide, over the past seven days, the highest percentage of positive COVID tests were in those age 18 to 29 years, which reported 30% of the positive tests statewide in the last week. The lowest positivity rate, statewide, was in the 70 to 79-year-old demographic, which reported a positive test rate of just 4%.
