(Radio Iowa) – With thousands of Iowans getting vaccinated daily for coronavirus, Governor Kim Reynolds says the state’s efforts to fight the disease continue to strengthen. Some 90-thousand doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered statewide in the past week and the governor says fewer people across Iowa are needing critical care. “Yesterday, there were 292 Iowans hospitalized due to COVID-19. That is an 80% decrease since our all-time high in mid-November,” Reynolds says, “and it’s the first time since September that hospitalizations have dropped below 300.” ‘

The governor says 49 new patients were admitted to Iowa hospitals in the past 24 hours, down from a record of 243 in one day in mid-November. Of those now in hospitals for treatment of the virus, she says 67 are in intensive care units, down 90-percent from the peak three months ago. “Our long-term care facility outbreaks have dropped to 33 from an all-time high of 166 long-term care outbreaks,” Reynolds says, “and we continue to see that number decline and we continue to see outbreaks among residents and staff decline as well.”

According to a New York Times report, only eight-percent of Iowans have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, the fourth-lowest rate in the nation. The state health department’s coronavirus website says more than 326-thousand Iowans have tested positive for COVID, while nearly 52-hundred have died.