COVID numbers jump dramatically statewide, locally after antigen test results start being included in data

DES MOINES — The announcement Thursday that the Iowa Department of Public Health will start including positive and negative results from antigen tests in its data has resulted in a jump in the number of positive cases statewide and in our listening area.

Antigen testing is not as accurate as the PCR tests that have been commonly used but take several days to produce results, while antigen testing can produce results in hours. The Iowa Department of Public Health had been classifying antigen tests as inconclusive, but now those results will be included after guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and that the availability of the tests has increased throughout the state.

In the 24 hour period leading up to 11 o’clock this morning, 139 new cases were reported in our listening area. 59 of those were in Cerro Gordo County, to bring the county’s overall total since the start of the pandemic to 788. 20 new cases were reported in Floyd, 18 in Wright, 13 in Franklin, 11 in Butler, nine in Hancock, three each in Kossuth and Worth, two in Winnebago and one in Mitchell. That brings the total number of area cases reported since the start of the pandemic to 2585.

When looking at active cases in the listening area, that number rose by 110 cases in that 24 hour period from 460 to 570. There are 215 active cases in Cerro Gordo County, 83 in Wright, 71 in Winnebago, 39 in Kossuth, 37 in Floyd, 35 in Butler, 31 in Franklin, 23 in Hancock, and 18 each in Mitchell and Worth.

One more death was reported in Winnebago County. That brings the county’s total to seven and the listening area’s total to 51.

28 more area people have recovered for a pandemic total of 1964.

Looking at the statewide numbers, 12 more deaths were reported to bring the total to 1091; 2663 more cases were identified for a total now of 62,031; 535 more people have recovered for a total of 45,897.

 

	Confirmed Cases	New Cases
Cerro Gordo	788	59
Butler	184	11
Floyd	211	20
Franklin	293	13
Hancock	150	9
Kossuth	118	3
Mitchell	94	1
Winnebago	154	2
Worth	79	3
Wright	514	18
Area Total	2585	139

 

	Active Cases
Cerro Gordo	215
Butler	35
Floyd	37
Franklin	31
Hancock	23
Kossuth	39
Mitchell	18
Winnebago	71
Worth	18
Wright	83
Area Total	570

 

	Deaths	New
Cerro Gordo	20
Butler	2
Floyd	3
Franklin	16
Hancock	2
Kossuth
Mitchell
Winnebago	7	1
Worth
Wright	1
Area Total	51	1

 

 

	Recovered	New Recovered
Cerro Gordo	553	5
Butler	147	7
Floyd	171	5
Franklin	246	2
Hancock	125	1
Kossuth	79	2
Mitchell	76
Winnebago	76	3
Worth	61	3
Wright	430
Area Total	1964	28