Northwest Iowa — Three residents of the four-county area of Lyon, Sioux, O’Brien and Osceola counties perished from COVID-related illnesses in the past seven days, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health.
The latest reported COVID deaths include two residents of Lyon County, bringing their total to 44 since the pandemic began; as well as one Sioux County resident, bringing the Sioux County total to 78. O’Brien and Osceola counties report no deaths this week, with O’Brien remaining at 63 deaths; and Osceola County reporting 18 deaths since the pandemic began. Here in the four-county area we have lost a total of 203 of our friends and neighbors to COVID-related illnesses since the start of the pandemic last year.
In addition, 161 new positive test results were reported in the four counties during the past seven days: 66 in Sioux County, two FEWER than were reported one week ago; O’Brien County reports 60 new positives, up 22 positives from the previous seven days; Lyon County reports 18 new positives in the past week, down 12 from the week before; and Osceola County reports 18 new positives, an increase of three from the previous week. In the four-county area as a whole, 161 new positives were reported this week, which is up 11 from the week before.
Turning to adult vaccination rates for COVID-19, O’Brien County reports 61.0% of the adult population is fully vaccinated, up from 60.8% last week. Osceola County is up to 51.6% of their adults being fully vaccinated, compared to 54.5% one week ago. In Sioux County, 52.1% of the adult population has taken the poke, compared to 51.9% one week ago. And in Lyon County, 51.6% of adults are fully vaccinated, compared to 51.4% in last week’s report.
Speaking of vaccination rates, Buena Vista remains the county in Iowa with the highest percentage of fully vaccinated adults at 80.9%, up from 80.7% one week ago. Davis County still holds the distinction as the Iowa county with the lowest percentage of fully-vaccinate adults at 47.0%, up from 46.9% in last week’s report.
