(Johnston)– The number of new COVID-19 cases in Iowa continues to surge. The Department of Public Health announced today (Thurs.) an additional 146 new cases with seven additional deaths. That brings the total number of fatalities so far to 60. 175 people were hospitalized as of Wednesday with COVID-19 with 84 in intensive care units and 48 on ventilators.
At her press conference this (Thurs.) morning, Governor Kim Reynolds announced plans to greatly expand testing in the state…
“Increased testing at this time is critical. To not only targeting virus activity and identifying potential risk, but also in implementing specific measures to slow the spread within a facility, business or community. And also it’s going to be critical in making decisions to reopen up our state. In the coming days we will be launching a new opportunity for Iowa and it’s called Test Iowa. It is an initiative that will enable us to conduct large scale testing and contract tracing across the state. Test Iowa will allow us to ramp up our capacity to over 3,000 tests per day in addition to the testing capacity that we currently have.”
The Governor said additional details will be released in coming days.
The Governor also today signed a new proclamation that ceases any gatherings in RMCC Region 6, which includes Allamakee, Benton, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Clayton, Delaware, Dubuque, Fayette, Grundy, Howard, Jones, Linn and Winneshiek counties. That region has become a hot spot for coronavirus infections in Iowa.
