DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa Department of Public Health today (Wednesday) released new COVID-19 data for the past 7 days. IDPH reported 8,907 additional positive COVID-19 tests, for a total of 441,889 positive tests since the start of the pandemic. The health department reported 39 additional COVID-19 deaths, totaling 6,307 since the pandemic began.

Hospitals in RMCC Region 4 (western and southwest Iowa) report:  29 patients are hospitalized with COVID; 9 patients are in an ICU; 6 were admitted and one person was on a ventilator. The latest data on deaths in Cass & surrounding counties (since the beginning of the pandemic) show:

• Cass County: 56
• Adair: 32
• Adams: 4
• Audubon: 14
• Guthrie: 32
• Montgomery: 38
• Pottawattamie: 180
• Shelby: 39

The state’s 14-day positivity rate is up from 8.2% to 8.6% in the last 7 days, and the 7-day rate is up from 8.3% to 8.6%. There are COVID-19 outbreaks in 16 of Iowa’s long-term care facilities. That is twice as many outbreaks as last week’s total of 8.

The number of people completing a vaccine is 1,612,253, up from 1,593,557. As of Sept. 1, 49.2% of all Iowa residents are now fully vaccinated. Iowa’s hospitalization data has not yet been updated by the health department. IDPH has been releasing COVID-19 data on a weekly basis since July 1.