Northwest Iowa — Five area residents lost their lives to COVID-related illnesses in the past seven days, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health.
The deaths were reported in three of the counties in our four-county area of Lyon, Sioux, O’Brien and Osceola Counties. Three deaths reported in Sioux County, with one death each in O’Brien and Osceola Counties. These deaths bring the death toll to 184; 72 in Sioux County, 55 in O’Brien County, 41 in Lyon County and 15 in Osceola County since the pandemic began.
In addition, 72 new positive tests were reported in the four-county area in the past week. Sioux County reported 34 new positive tests with a 6%positive rate. O’Brien and Lyon Counties each report 15 positive test results with a 5% positive rate in Lyon County and 4% in O’Brien. In Osceola County, there were 8 new positive test results, with a positive rate of 6%.
The state coronavirus website reports current long-term care centers with positive COVID outbreaks at two in Iowa. They are the Urbandale Healthcare Center in Polk County, where they report 10 positives in residents and staff, along with the Good Samaritan Center at Ottumwa in Wapello County, where there were 7 positive test results reported.
