Northwest Iowa — The four-county area of Lyon, Sioux, Osceola and O’Brien Counties report 57 fewer new positive COVID results this past week, compared to the week before, according to state health officials.
According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, Sioux County had the most new positives during the past seven days, with a total of 67, down 15 from the 82 new positives reported during the previous seven days. Lyon County reports 25 new positives this week, down from 39 the previous week. O’Brien County reports 16 new positives, down 9 from a week ago. And in Osceola County, they report 20 new positives this week, down from 39 the previous week.
There has been an adjustment to the four-county COVID death toll this week. O’Brien, Lyon and Sioux Counties are all reporting the same number of deaths, 61, 42, and 77 respectively, while Osceola County’s COVID-related death total was reduced by three and now stands at 14. That means a total of 194 residents of the four-county area have succumbed to the virus since the pandemic began.
Looking at vaccination numbers, 59.7% of O’Brien County residents have been fully vaccinated against COVID, while 52.9% of Osceola County residents are fully vaccinated, 50.9% of Sioux County residents have “taken the jab,” whit 50.5% of Lyon County residents have been fully vaccinated. Each of those percentages represents a slight uptick from the previous week.
The county with the highest adult vaccination rate is Buena Vista, here in northwest Iowa, where 78.7% of the adult population is fully vaccinated. Decatur County in far south-central Iowa has the lowest adult vaccination rate at 46.3%.
Statewide, 524 patients were hospitalized for treatment of COVID, as of late Monday morning. That’s an increase of 9 from Sunday. Iowa ICU’s are treating 113 COVID patients, as of late morning Monday, that number is also an increase of 9 patients over Sunday’s numbers.
