WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has tried to erect a protective shield around nursing homes, but coronavirus cases are surging within facilities in states hard hit by the latest wave of COVID-19.

Weekly COVID-19 infections in nursing homes in 20 states have been rising since May. (AP Graphic)

An analysis of federal data from 20 states (including Iowa) for The Associated Press finds that new weekly cases among residents rose nearly four-fold from the end of May to late October, from about 1,100 to nearly 4,300. Resident deaths more than doubled, from 318 a week to 699. That’s according to University of Chicago health researchers.

The administration says nursing home outbreaks involve complex dynamics and the government has provided billions of dollars to help nursing homes as well as thousands of fast-test machines.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A Council Bluffs man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for two sexual assaults. Forty-year-old Richard Siemer Jr. was sentenced after he pled guilty to second-degree sexual abuse and third-degree sexual abuse as part of a deal with prosecutors. Assistant Pottawattamie County Attorney Malina Dobson said these latest crimes are the fourth and fifth sexual assault convictions on Siemer’s record.

Dobson said the most recent offenses occurred in July and August 2019 after Siemer befriended women whom he worked with and invited them to his apartment and attacked them. Siemer will have to register as a sex offender after he is released from prison.

Red Oak Police, Saturday arrested a man and a woman on two counts each, of Tampering with a Witness. 41-year old Tyler Geoffrey Jennings and 35-year old Erika Joann Driver, both of Red Oak, were arrested Saturday and held on $2,000 bond each, in the Montgomery County Jail.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa. (AP) — Iowa reported another 4,249 confirmed coronavirus cases Saturday as the outbreak tested hospitals. The new cases recorded from 10 a.m. Friday to 10 a.m. Saturday brought the state’s total since the pandemic began to 148,391. The number of deaths also increased by 14 to 1,829. Several long-term care facilities recorded added multiple outbreaks as of Saturday, including Ridgewood Specialty Care in Ottumwa, with 14 cases. On Saturday, the state was reporting 901 hospitalizations, down from 912 on Friday. In the past 24 hours, 165 patients have been admitted. Also, there are 194 patients in the ICU, up from 188 on Friday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Officials say a vote-counting mistake has reversed the leader of a southeast Iowa congressional race. Preliminary results had shown Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks leading the open U.S. House race over Democrat Rita Hart by 282 votes out of more than 393,000 cast. However, Jasper County elections officials spotted a problem Thursday, and after working with the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office determined the numbers had been inaccurately reported from one precinct. After the correction, officials said Friday that Hart now leads the race by 162 votes. The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the race, deeming it too close to call.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa prison officials reported a coronavirus outbreak has infected nearly half of the inmates at an Iowa prison in Anamosa. Cord Overton, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Corrections, said Friday that testing this week revealed 476 inmates among 985 at the prison tested positive for the virus. A report provided by the department indicates 37 staff members also tested positive. Across the nine institutions the department manages, 601 inmates are currently infected as of Friday afternoon.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — The family of a 97-year-old Iowa woman who died of the coronavirus is questioning why a Davenport hospital released her while she was still sick and didn’t inform her family that she had been sent home. The Quad-City Times reports that Helen Lowery died two days after a maintenance worker found her unconscious in a chair in her apartment on Oct. 21. Grandson Michael Lowery says her family had no idea she had been sent home, even though he had asked to be informed. The hospital’s chief medical officer says that generally COVID-19 patients “are discharged or remain hospitalized depending upon the individual’s clinical condition and the patient’s choice of care setting.”