Iowa reports nearly 20,000 more COVID cases reported in last week, 161 deaths

(KTIV) — The rate of coronavirus spread in Iowa has increased in the past week as state health officials posted 19,045 positive tests in the past seven days.

Virus-related hospitalizations have risen to 792 while there are 161 COVID patients in the state’s ICUs.

The Iowa Department of Public Safety says in its weekly update posted Wednesday that 70.4% of the state’s 18 and older population is fully vaccinated while 74.5% of the 12 and older population is fully vaccinated.

The amount of COVID deaths in Iowa has surpassed 8,000 as of Jan. 4. In total, 161 deaths were confirmed, all of them occurring between Oct. 13 and Dec. 30.