Closing the books on COVID-19 2020

The year 2020 could not end soon enough for most people, including Humboldt County Public Health and health care providers at Humboldt County Memorial Hospital and UnityPoint Family Medicine – Humboldt.
Through Wednesday, Dec. 30, the county was trying to keep the number of positive COVID-19 cases below the 1,000 mark for the year. A total of 10.3 percent of the county’s 9,547 residents (according to 2018 U.S. census data), or 982 people, contracted the disease during the 2020 calendar year. Humboldt County’s first confirmed positive case was not reported until April 18.
According to the Humboldt County Public Health website, there were 52 active cases in the county on Wednesday, Dec. 30. Another 29 additional cases were reported Wednesday. Of those numbers, 8 were juveniles, ages 0-17; 10 were young adults, ages 18-40; six were ages 41-60; and five were ages 61-80.
The county reports that 912 people have recovered from COVID-19 in the county, with 18 deaths. Another two additional deaths have been reported during the past week. Among the Humboldt County deaths, 15 cited COVID complications as the underlying cause, with three listing COVID as a contributing factor.
After dropping down to 13 percent, the county’s positivity rate has inched back up. Humboldt County currently has the 11th highest positivity rate in the state based on the past 14-day average, at 19.4 percent. Humboldt County is higher than any of the neighboring counties. Of surrounding or nearby counties, only Calhoun at 5.8 percent and Palo Alto at 8.4 percent, are below 10 percent positivity. No positive associated with an outbreak have been reported at any long-term care facility in the county during the past 14 days.
HCMH is part of Region 3, the 20 furthest most counties in northwest Iowa. As of Wednesday, 90 patients were hospitalized in the region with COVID-19, a figure that has been declining from a high of nearly 240 patients in late November/early December. Of the 90, 19 patients were in the intensive care units. About 44 percent of inpatient beds were available in the region.
Statewide, Iowans hospitalized with the disease has declined from a high of 1,392 in mid-November to 620 patients on Dec. 30.
More than 238,000 Iowans have recovered from the disease
Iowa has reported 3,891 deaths related to COVID-19. Of those, 58 percent were ages 80 and older and 35 percent were ages 60-79.
Nationwide, there are 19.8 million documented positive cases of the novel coronavirus and more than 346,000 have perished from the disease.