Spike sends Humboldt over 100 COVID-19 cases

By KENT THOMPSON
A spike of 15 new positive cases of Novel Coronavirus cases in Humboldt County this week has the county with one of the highest positivity percentages in the state. According to the Iowa COVID-19 website, percent of positive cases by county in the past 14 days, Humboldt ranks at 21 percent, second only to Webster County at 23 percent. During that same time period, Pocahontas County has been at 5 percent and Polk, Dallas and Johnson County have been at 8 percentage of positive cases.
Humboldt County's positivity rate tops the 15-20 percent over two weeks, which Gov. Kim Reynolds said could trigger remote classes, but at least 10 percent of students would need to be absent from school. Humboldt County's 13 percent daily threshold is below Reynolds' mark of 15 percent.
New Humboldt Superintendent of Schools Jim Murray outlined several possible return to learn scenarios for the Humboldt Community School District during the Board of Education's July 21 meeting, with more details and parental consultation ongoing. More information on what the district plans to pursue is expected at the board's Aug. 17 meeting.
A total of six new cases reported on Thursday raised the county to over the century mark in positive cases, currently standing at 104, as of Friday, Aug. 7. According to the Iowa COVID-19 website, on Thursday, 9 Humboldt County individuals were tested, with five testing negative and four testing positive. The state reports 1,286 individuals being tested in the county, with 1,180 testing negative and 104 positive for a 8.2 percent positive response. There have been 2,780 assessments of Humboldt County individuals, according to the Iowa coronavirus website.
Of the total positive cases since Humboldt County’s first reported positive case on Saturday, April 18, 85 have recovered. Humboldt County has reported one death from the disease, that being on June 1. The patient was identified as being in the 61-80-age category.
The breakdown of positive cases by age groups in the county is as follows: (0-17) nine; (18-40) 42; (41-60) 37; (61-80) 15; and (81+) one.
Humboldt County’s 104 positive cases, represents a cases per 100,000 population of 1,100, ranking it 31st highest of Iowa’s 99 counties.
Humboldt County lies within Region 3, the 19 counties in far northwest Iowa. In the region, 25 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized, six patients are in ICU and three patients are on ventilators. A total of 85 ICU beds remain available in the region hospitals.
Humboldt County Public Health continues to strongly encourage all vulnerable Iowans, including those with preexisting medical conditions and those older than 65, to continue to limit their activities outside of their home, including their visits to businesses and other establishments and their participation in gatherings of any size and any purpose. We encourage all Iowans to limit their in-person interactions with vulnerable Iowans and to exercise particular care and caution when engaging in any necessary interactions.
The state of Iowa reports that 7,673 individuals were tested Thursday with 566 individuals testing positive, a rate of 7.4 percent.
Since the virus was identified, 511,424 individuals have been tested, about one of six Iowans. Of that number, 460,835 tested negative and 47,865 tested positive, 9.4 percent.
Webster County reports 789 cases, 15th highest among Iowa counties.
For up-to-date information on COVID-19 in Humboldt County, visit https://www.humboldthospital.org/news-events/covid-19-update and follow Humboldt County Public Health on Facebook @HumboldtCountyPublicHealth
For up-to-date information on COVID-19 in Iowa, visit https://coronavirus.iowa.gov/ and follow the Iowa Department of Public Health on Facebook at @IowaDepartmentOfPublicHealth and on Twitter at @IAPublicHealth.

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