(as of 10-a.m. today) The Iowa Department of Public Health reports an increase in coronavirus cases in the state over the last week. A change to reporting has also shown a large increase in recoveries. Officials says there are 213 new, positive cases, and five deaths. That brings the statewide total to 28,941 positive cases and 712 deaths. IDPH reported 303,772 Iowans have been tested for COVID-19, while 23,035 have recovered from the virus.

Some Iowa counties have shown an increase in positive cases in the last week. On Monday, Polk County Health officials said the last seven days have shown an increase of 20% of new cases reported in both Polk and Dallas Counties. Johnson County saw a 38% increase in a week. Positive cases in Story County reached 677, a 44% increase since June 22. Gov. Kim Reynolds today (Tuesday), said nearly 1 in 10 Iowans have now been tested for the virus. She said also, TestIowa has now exceeded its goal for daily testing, with more than 3,000 tests administered in each of the last 7 days. Reynolds said the daily positive result percentage was 5.1% on Monday.

Iowans testing positive for COVID-19 will now be considered recovered after 28 days without the virus, unless health officials have been notified otherwise. The governor said that change has been made to the IDPH website, which accounts for the large increase in the number of recoveries overnight. Despite an increase in cases, hospitalization rates continue to show a downward trend in the state since an apparent peak in early May. IDPH reported 133 hospitalized patients, with 34 of them listed in intensive care and 20 on ventilators. There were 25 patients admitted in the last 24 hours. IDPH reported approximately 3,410 inpatient beds available in the state, with 503 ICU beds and 809 ventilators available. There are now coronavirus outbreaks in 21 of Iowa’s long-term care facilities. IDPH reported 669 current positive cases, 520 recoveries and 365 deaths within care facilities.

The numbers for southwest and western Iowa (RMCC Region 4) are nearly steady, with 5 hospitalized, 2 in an ICU, 0 admitted and one person on a ventilator. Area County-by-County figures show:

• 8 more people have recovered from COVID-19 in Adams and Guthrie Counties
• 3 more have recovered in Audubon County
• 11 more have recovered in Shelby County
• and 42 more persons have reportedly recovered in Pottawattamie County. There were also 8 more positive cases noted on the State’s COVID-19 database today.