The latest information from State of Iowa’s coronavirus dashboard (10-a.m. Friday, 12/11) shows 77 additional deaths related to COVID have taken place, for a total of 3,197.The IDPH says 2,930 deaths are the result of “Underlying causes,” and 267 have a “Contributing factor.”  The website said 2,932 of the state’s deaths involved Iowans with preexisting conditions.

Long-Term Care (LTC) facility deaths amount to 1,129. In the listening area: Adair, Harrison, Mills and Montgomery Counties each show one more reported death. There are two new deaths to report in Pottawattamie County, and three in Shelby County (See the totals below)

The number of positive COVID-19 cases statewide is up 2,057 to 253,085. Long-Term Care facility outbreaks are down slightly, at 140. State data shows 1,273,664 Iowans have been tested for coronavirus, with a total of 183,213 recovered. Iowa reports a 14-day positivity rate of 15.8% and a 7-day rate of 11.3%. Of Iowa’s 99 counties, 66 report 14-day positivity rates above 15%. Two Iowa counties report a 14-day positivity rate below 10%.

Hospitalization data: show 833 are in hospitals across the state (that’s 30 less than yesterday); 175 COVID patients are in an ICU (down 14 from Thursday); 128 were admitted (an increase of 4); 97 are on a ventilator (down 17 from yesterday). Hospitals in western/southwest Iowa (RMCC Region 4) report: 55 hospitalized (compared to 53 previously); 15 in an ICU (one less than previously reported); five were admitted (three less than yesterday), and eight COVID patients are on a ventilator (one less than yesterday).

In the KJAN listening area, here are the current number positive cases; The # of new cases since yesterday {+}; and the total number of deaths in each county (Configured by the new reporting formula):

• Cass, 906 cases; {+5}; 35 deaths
• Adair, 504; {+4}; 16
• Adams, 208; {+7}; 2
• Audubon, 324; {+3}; 6
• Guthrie, 840; {+10}; 22
• Harrison County, 1,213; {+14}; 49
• Madison County, 816; {+12}; 8
• Mills County, 1,166; {+13}; 11
• Montgomery, 583; {+8}; 13
• Pottawattamie County, 7,308; {+75}; 72
• Shelby County, 846; {+6}; 19
• Union County,  926; {+2}; 9

(Radio Iowa) – The number of unemployment claims shot up in the last week. First-time claims were up by nearly 54-hundred in the last week and the number of continuing claims was up 94-hundred. Iowa Workforce Development says the increase in continuing claims was due primarily to construction and manufacturing claims from Thanksgiving week that were filed last week and were not unexpected.

The information from I-W-D says November through February are typically the months for the most unemployment claims driven by seasonal layoffs. The agency says just more than 59 percent of those who filed claims said those claims were not related to COVID-19.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa State University research suggests certain foods — including cheese and red wine — may prevent cognitive decline in our later years. I-S-U food science and human nutrition professor Auriel Willette led the review of publicly available data from a study in Great Britain. “We’ve been interested for a while in looking at the impact of diet on cognition and on the brain as we get older,” he says. “We wanted to look at the kinds of different foods that people eat and if there is a relationship with how flexible their thinking is over time.”

Via Pintrest.com

Willette’s research is featured in an article published in the November issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. Willette and an I-S-U grad student were granted access to information in what’s known as the “BioBank” in Great Britain. It contains in-depth genetic and health information from half-a-million people. Their most significant finding was that cheese is the food that seemed to provide the most protection against cognitive decline and daily consumption of alcohol, especially red wine, appeared to improve cognitive function. “These things which taste good actually, at least for your brain, might be good for you and that I think is a departure a lot of the diet literature that basically says if you live like a monk, then, you know, you should be good.”

It may be worthwhile to follow up with a clinical trial to test these conclusions, Willette says, as one path in Alzheimer’s research is pursuing the theory exercise and diet can have an impact on cognitive performance as we age.  “But I think more important and more practical is that it doesn’t always have to deal with adding things we usually don’t like and taking away things that we do,” he says. “It’s more complicated than that and we’re hoping that modifying our diet in ways that are fun actually may be a good route to go.”

And Willette says in the midst of a pandemic, he was pleasantly surprised the results suggest responsibly eating cheese and drinking red wine daily may have these side benefits for our brains.

(Radio Iowa) – A study conducted by the Iowa and National Restaurant Associations confirms the fears about the impact of COVID shutdowns on the industry. The president of the Iowa association, Jessica Dunker, says the pandemic has been devastating to the industry. She says they entered 2020 with the hope of four-point-four BILLION dollars in revenue and they are now expecting to lose one-point-four BILLION dollars — with the average restaurant seeing a 33 percent decrease. Dunker says that’s not the end of it for the more than six-thousand restaurants, bars, and other venues that serve food and beverages. “The frightening thing is that 88 percent of Iowa operators expect to see an even bigger decrease in sales over the next three months,” she says.

Dunker says winter will shut off the outside dining that has helped some businesses continue to operate. You may go by some establishments and see long lines at their drive-throughs. Dunker says they are the ones that have been able to deal with the pandemic restrictions. “We feel like any restaurant that had a drive-through in place when the COVID measures started to be put in place by the state had a tremendous advantage. And many those are actually seeing increases in sales this year,” according to Dunker. “So, when we talk about these kinds of loses — the drive-throughs are doing fine — and the people that were always set up as a carry-out and delivery, they are doing fine.”

Dunker says the COVID restrictions have hurt the establishments that offer an experience. “It really about the ambiance, the environment, as well as food that presents beautifully when you serve it straight from the kitchen. Those are the people who were not able to turn their business model quickly into something that would transfer for carryout and delivery,” she explains.  She says 61 percent of people surveyed say they are looking for an experience when they eat out. Dunker says they predicted early on they might lose one-thousand restaurants. “We started out hoping that we were wrong — that it wouldn’t get to a thousand. Now we hope that our numbers are right and it will only get to a thousand,” Dunker says.

The Iowa Restaurant Association has joined thousands of small business advocacy organizations across the nation calling for the Federal Government to immediately pass a relief bill which includes additional Paycheck Protection Program grants. Dunker says they are also asking state agencies and lawmakers to create relief measures including directing additional CARES Act money toward small business grants, forgiving and/or deferring sales and payroll taxes, and giving a minimum of one year respite on alcohol and other state license fees. “Forty-one percent of operators say they don’t see how they can stay in business for another six months if federal programs aren’t renewed,” she says.

Dunker is encouraging operators across the state to contact state and federal lawmakers throughout December and invite them to visit their businesses to see firsthand the toll COVID-19 has taken.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office, Thursday, reported three recent arrests. On Wednesday, 31-year old Krista Jo Lynn McKee, of Malvern, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault. McKee was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail. And, there were two arrests on Tuesday: 47-year old Laurie Elizabeth Holmes was arrested at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, on a warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault. She was being held without bond; 34-year old Jared William Rye, of Plattesmouth, NE., was arrested at the Pottawattamie County Jail, on a Mills County warrant for Failure to Appear on a Possession of Controlled Substance, charge. Rye was being held on $1,000 bond in the Mills County Jail.

(Radio Iowa) – One quarter of the inmates and 14 staff members at the state’s maximum security prison currently have Covid and one of the inmates died of the virus early Thursday morning. According to a news release from the Iowa Department of Corrections, Mark Steven Bailey was transferred several days ago from the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison to University Hospitals in Iowa City, where he died likely due to complications related to Covid-19.

Bailey, who was 63, had been in prison since 2007, serving a 20-year sentence for two second degree robbery convictions in Polk County. He’s the 12th inmate to die after contracting Covid in the state’s prison system. In November, staff members at the prisons in Clarida and Mitchellville died with Covid.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:05 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa public health officials have posted another 99 coronavirus related deaths, raising the state’s death toll to 3,120. The state this week modified the methodology for counting COVID-19 deaths and that added 399 deaths to the state total in the past three days. Iowa coronavirus positive cases increased by 2,246 Thursday pushing the state total to 251,028. Hospitalizations and admissions are lower with 863 people hospitalized with COVID-19. Hospitalizations and new positive cases have been trending lower, giving health care officials hope that Iowa may have avoided a post-Thanksgiving surge. Concerns remain around Christmas and New Year holiday gathering activities.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s Republican governor prevented Democratic Attorney General Tom Miller from joining on Thursday a brief opposing the Texas legal challenge to the 2020 presidential election in four other states filed with the U.S. Supreme Court. Miller says if he had been asked to join a Republican led brief supporting the Texas lawsuit he would have declined because he believes the 2020 elections were fairly and safely conducted by election officials of both parties. He said he was asked Thursday by a group of Democratic attorneys general to join a brief supporting the four states the Texas attorney general is suing but Reynolds refused to allow him to join.

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — The Trump administration has carried out its ninth federal execution of the year in what has been a first series of executions during a presidential lame-duck period in 130 years. Federal prison officials in Terre Haute, Indiana, on Thursday executed a Texas street-gang member for his role in the 1999 slayings of an Iowa religious couple. The case of 40-year-old Brandon Bernard was a rare execution of a person who was in his teens when his crime was committed. He was 18 when he and four other teenagers abducted and robbed Todd and Stacie Bagley, of Iowa, on their way from a Sunday service in Killeen, Texas. Four more federal executions, including one Friday, are planned in the weeks before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.