Northwest Iowa — The number of positive COVID-19 test results in the four-county area of Sioux, O’Brien, Osceola and Lyon Counties are up this week, according to information from the Iowa Department of Public Health.
According to the weekly report, 137 area residents tested positive for COVID in the previous seven days. That compares to 126 the previous week. This week Sioux County reports 50 new positives, up 19 from the previous week. O’Brien County reported 41 new positives, up from 39 the previous week. Lyon and Osceola Counties each reported 23 new positives this week. That marks an increase of 1 for Osceola County, but a decrease of 11 for Lyon County.
We’ve gone another week with no additional COVID-related deaths in the four-county area. The total remains at 193 residents of the area who have been claimed by the COVID-19 virus; 76 in Sioux County, 59 In O’Brien County, 41 in Lyon County and 17 in Osceola County.
As of mid-morning Monday, 557 people were in Iowa hospitals being treated for COVID, that’s a reduction of 11 from Sunday. 24 of the 557 were admitted within the past 24 hours. Of the 557 hospitalized, 142 are being treated in the state’s ICU’s, that’s one fewer than Sunday, 59 of them went into the ICU since Sunday, but even with that additional number, there were 5 fewer ICU patients Monday compared to Sunday.
The IDPH reports that, as of Monday morning, 58.6% of O’Brien County residents over the age of 18 have been fully vaccinated, 52.5% of Osceola County adults are fully vaccinated, 50.1% of Sioux County residents and 49.7% of Lyon County adults have been fully vaccinated.
Statewide, the county with the highest number of fully-vaccinated adults is Buena Vista, here in northwest Iowa, where 76.8% of adults are fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, the county with the lowest adult vaccination rate is Davis, in far southeast Iowa, where 45.0% of adults have had the vaccine.
