Northwest Iowa — Positive COVID test results continue to increase in our four-county area of O’Brien, Osceola, Lyon and Sioux Counties.
There were 30 more positive results in the past seven days than reported the previous week, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health.
This week’s numbers show 110 new positives in Sioux County, compared to 109 new positives reported one week ago. O’Brien County saw 53 new positives in the past week, compared to 33 the previous week. Lyon County reports 38 new positives in the past seven day, compared to 27 the week before. Osceola County is the only place in the four-county area that saw fewer new positives this week than the week before. This week, Osceola County reports 7 new positives, that’s a REDUCTION of two from the previous week. All told, there were 208 new positive cases reported this week, compared to 178 the week before.
The bad news continues into the COVID death statistics. O’Brien County reports one additional COVID-related death in the past seven days, bringing the O’Brien County total to 62 since the beginning of the pandemic. That was the only COVID-related death in the four-county area during the past week, with Sioux County remaining at 77, Lyon County at 42, and Osceola County at 18 deaths since the pandemic began last year.
Adult vaccination rates are inching up each week. In the four-county area, O’Brien County leads the way with 60.3% of adult residents fully-vaccinated. That compares to 60.1% in last week’s report. Osceola County reports 53.8% of adults have received the vaccine, up from 53.5% in last week’s report. Sioux County has 51.4% of their adult population fully vaccinated, up from 51.2% a week ago. Lyon County has an adult vaccination rate of 51.0%, up from 50.9% in the previous week’s report.
Buena Vista County, here in northwest Iowa, remains the most vaccinated county in Iowa again this week, reporting a 79.6% adult vaccination rate, which is up from 79.5% a week ago. Davis County, in far southeast Iowa, still holds the distinction as the Iowa county with the lowest percentage of vaccinated adults at 46.4%, up from 46.3% a week earlier.
