(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
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Iowa COVID-19 infection rate has first increase in weeks [1]
['Jared Strong', 'More From Author', '- February']
Date: 2023-02-08
The state’s COVID-19 infection rate increased slightly last week, representing the first uptick in weekly reported cases in more than a month.
There were 1,517 new confirmed cases in the past week among people who were not previously infected, according to an Iowa Department of Health and Human Services report on Wednesday.
There were a total of 2,142 positive tests, which includes reinfections of people who were previously infected. The state does not report those reinfections to federal health officials.
Both of those metrics indicate a 1% increase in the state’s infection rate. The data does not include results from rapid, at-home tests, which the state does not track.
An increasing number of coronavirus infections in the Midwest are being caused by omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That strain recently accounted for about 37% of infections in a region of four states that includes Iowa and is poised to become the dominant source of infections.
The subvariant appears to have an increased risk of transmission and “is likely to contribute to increases in case incidence globally,” the World Health Organization said in a risk assessment late last month. However, “available information does not suggest that XBB.1.5 has additional public health risk relative to the other currently circulating omicron descendent lineages.”
That report said the subvariant has been identified in at least 54 countries.
XBB.1.5 is responsible for more than 90% of infections in Northeastern states, where there has not been a significant increase in reported infections. Iowa health officials have not responded to questions about whether they anticipate an increase in infections because of the subvariant.
The state’s infection rate is the lowest it’s been since April. The state’s hospitalization rate for people with COVID-19 is its lowest since May, according to the CDC.
There were an average of 120 infected people receiving inpatient treatment at Iowa hospitals last week. That is down from a high of 273 in December.
The state also reported on Wednesday 28 new deaths among people who were infected by the virus, for a total of 10,625 since the start of the pandemic.
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