(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch.
This unaltered story first appeared on URL: https://iowacapitaldispatch.com
Licensed for republication through Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
------------


CDC: State’s COVID death rate could near previous peak

['Jared Strong', 'More From Author', '- January']

Date: 2022-01-24 00:00:00


The rate at which Iowans die from COVID-19 might approach the state’s previous peak by the middle of February, according to projections by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The previous peak rate was about 425 deaths per week in late 2020, according to state data.

CDC projections, which are based on a conglomeration of more than 20 prediction models, indicate Iowa might approach 400 deaths per week by Feb. 15.

“Models are very helpful tools, however, they may not reliably predict rapid changes in trends,” said Sarah Ekstrand, a spokesperson for the Iowa Department of Public Health.

She noted that the models predicted a wide range of death rates of up to 800 per week.

“We continue to watch the data in real time for an understanding of where we may fall within that range,” Ekstrand said.

Comparisons of cases and deaths associated with the delta variant surge found a proportional relationship that appears to be different with the now-dominant omicron variant. A New York Times analysis this month of cases and deaths in Boston, Chicago and New York City since September 2020 showed that omicron infections have resulted in fewer deaths per case than delta infections.

However, Iowans are being infected at a faster pace than at any previous point in the pandemic, according to state data. Recently, the state’s two-week infection rate was more than 30% greater than the pandemic’s previous peak in November 2020.

The state was averaging about 130 deaths per week in late December, based on current data, but that total could be revised upward. New deaths reported last week by the state dated back to Nov. 26.

There have been a total of about 8,300 deaths in Iowa of people infected by the coronavirus.

[END]

[1] Url: https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2022/01/24/cdc-states-covid-death-rate-could-near-previous-peak/

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/iowacapitaldispatch/