Northwest Iowa — The number of positive COVID-19 tests are down from last week in the four-county area of O’Brien, Sioux, Osceola and Lyon Counties, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health.
In Monday’s report, IDPH officials say Sioux County reports 68 new positives in the past 7 days, compared to 81 the previous week. O’Brien County reports 38 new positives, down from 53 the week before. Lyon reports 30 new positives, down from 39 a week ago. Osceola County is the only place in the four-county area without a declining number, with 14 new positives this week, the same number from the previous week. As a group, the four-county area reported 150 new positives this week, a reduction of 37 from the previous week’s total of 187.
The good news about the reduction in positive cases is offset, though, by the report of an additional COVID-related death in the four-county area. The person who lost their battle with a COVID-related illness was a resident of O’Brien County, bringing that county’s number of COVID-related deaths to 63. Sioux County reports 77 deaths since the pandemic began, with Lyon County reporting 42 and Osceola County reporting 18 deaths since the pandemic began last year.
Vaccination rates are inching up. In O’Brien County, 60.8% of adults (18 and over), that’s up from 60.6% a week ago. Osceola County reports 54.5% of the county’s residents are fully vaccinated, compared to 54.2% last week. Lyon County stands at 51.9% of adults fully vaccinated, up from 51.3% last week. Sioux County has had 51.4% of adults get fully vaccinated against COVID, up from 51.3% last week.
The county with the highest adult vaccination in the state is still Buena Vista County, here in northwest Iowa, where they report an 80.7% adult vaccination rate, up from 80.4% a week ago.
Davis County, in far southeast Iowa, still holds the distinction of having the fewest adult residents in Iowa who are fully vaccinated. They currently stand at 46.9%, up from 46.8% in last week’s report.
