Northwest Iowa — More than 200 FEWER positive COVID test results were reported in the four-county area of Lyon, Sioux, O’Brien and Osceola counties during the past seven days when compared to the week before, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health.
During the past seven days, 580 new positive tests were reported in the four-county area, that’s 206 FEWER than the 786 reported during the previous week.
Each of the four counties reported a decrease in the number of positives: Sioux County reports 282, down from 377 the previous week; Lyon County reports 99, down from 151 the week before; O’Brien County reports 158 positive tests in the past seven days, down from 188 the week before; and Osceola County had 41 positive results in the past week, compared to 70 the previous week.
The news is not so good when looking at the death toll from COVID-related illness during the past seven days. The four-county area’s death toll increased by 4 since the previous report, with a total of 212 of our friends and neighbors losing their lives to a COVID-related illness since the pandemic began. The additional deaths came from 3 in O’Brien County and 1 in Lyon County.
County-by-county death numbers are as follows: 80 Sioux County residents; 66 O’Brien County residents; 46 Lyon County residents; and 20 Osceola County residents have died from COVID-related illnesses since the start of the pandemic.
Turning to vaccination rates, adult vaccination rates are no longer available, so we’ll be reporting the vaccination rates for the entire population. So far, 49.4% of O’Brien County residents are fully vaccinated, Osceola County reports a 44.1% vaccination rate, Sioux County sits at 40.6%, with Lyon County at 40.1%.
As of Monday, Johnson County, in southeast Iowa, has the highest total fully vaccinated rate in the state at 70.9%, while Davis County in far southern Iowa, reports the lowest rate in the state at 35.7%.
