The total number of nursing home outbreaks of COVID-19 in Iowa continued a sharp increase over the past week, and two more Muscatine residents have died.
But the the average number of daily new cases across the state and in Muscatine has declined in the last seven days.
A total of 86 outbreaks were reported Wednesday at long-term care facilities in Iowa, up from 25 just three weeks earlier, which health officials say is because of the highly-contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus.
With the two additional deaths, there have been a total of 124 Muscatine County residents and 8,501 Iowans lost to COVID-19 since March 2020.
388 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded in Muscatine County over the seven day period ending Wednesday, Jan. 26, down by 37 percent from the previous week, for a total of 9,681 since the pandemic began.
The positive test rate in Muscatine for the week was at 30 percent, down 6 percent from last week, according to the Iowa Department of Health dashboard.
Statewide, there were 34,949 new COVID-19 cases in the past week, with an overall seven-day positivity rate of 24.1 percent.
Hospitalized patients with the coronavirus totaled 929 on Wednesday, including 172 admitted in the previous 24 hours. 165 patients were listed in intensive care units. At Trinity Muscatine, seven patients had COVID-19 and two were in ICU.
56.93 percent of the state’s population and 60.69 percent of the population ages 5 and older have been fully vaccinated.