Humboldt County tops 20 percent positivity rate

The Iowa Department of Public Health and Humboldt County Public Health identified another 15 new positive cases of COVID-19 in Humboldt County on Thursday. That brings the total number of positive cases since the pandemic began to 453 in the county. Of that number, 365 have recovered with three deaths reported. There are 85 active positive cases.
Of the cases reported Thursday, two are in the 0-17 age range, four are in the 18-40 age group, three are ages 41-60, five are ages 61-80. And one is age 81 or older.
Humboldt County is 18th highest among Iowa Counties for the positivity rate for the past 14 days, at 20.8 percent. There are 28 Iowa counties with rates at 20 percent or higher, including Hancock (22.8), Webster (20.7) and Wright (20.0). Pocahontas is at 19.4 percent.
Hamilton’s County’s rate of 9.8 percent positive is one of the few below 10 percent in the state of Iowa. Jones County in far eastern Iowa has a positivity rate of nearly 40 percent.
Humboldt and Twin Rivers School Superintendent Jim Murray reported Friday that the school’s absenteeism rate remains quite low. “Our numbers of students attending classes at all levels remains quite high,” Murray said. He reported that a check on Tuesday, Nov. 3, showed one high school student and two middle schools students positive for COVID-19 at Humboldt. Other students have gone in an out of quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure.
Read more on this issue in this week and next week’s Humboldt Independent print and online editions.