Area COVID cases continue on decline

MASON CITY — The number of active COVID-19 cases continues to go down after that number jumped up at the end of last week.

In the time period between midday Friday and 11 o’clock this morning, 58 new cases were identified locally while 87 more people were reported as recovered. Three deaths were reported in that same time period, single deaths in Cerro Gordo, Floyd, and Hancock counties, to bring the area’s death total to 357.

The active case count in north-central Iowa according to our compilation of data currently is 1776. Compared to last Monday, the active case count in north-central Iowa was 895. A request for information and comment from the Iowa Department of Public Health in regards to the spike in numbers late last week has not been returned.

The number of people hospitalized in the north-central Iowa medical region is 15, one more than Sunday. There was one patient in an intensive care unit and that patient was on a ventilator. 

(Editor’s note — Due to the fact reported above about the numbers rising, we will not post county-by-county data until we receive further information from the Iowa Department of Public Health)