COVID-19 positivity rates still dipping

COVID-19 positivity rates decreased in O'Brien and Clay counties over the past week.

As of Wednesday morning, O'Brien County's 14-day positivity rate was 6 percent, down from 8.6 percent a week ago. Clay County's was down to 9.4 percent from 12.2 percent over the same time period. The statewide positivity rate was down from 10.4 percent to 9.4 percent.

Coronavirus-related deaths were up three apiece in O'Brien and Clay counties to 58 and 24, respectively. There have been 4,919 COVID-19 deaths statewide, up from 4,492 last week.

Confirmed infections since the pandemic began tallied 1,731 in O'Brien County, 1,766 in Clay County and 321,533 statewide. Recoveries in that same order were 1,584, 1,578 and 288,310.

As of Saturday, there were 358 coronavirus-related hospitalizations in Iowa, down from 383 the previous week. One was from O'Brien County and two were from Clay County.

Administered vaccine doses as of Monday totaled 1,559 in O'Brien County, 1,135 in Clay County and 263,248 statewide, 250,633 of which were Iowa residents. Completed vaccine series were 64,046.