COVID-19 positivity rates fall

COVID-19 positivity rates declined in both O'Brien and Clay counties last week, mirroring a downward trend statewide.

As of Tuesday evening, O'Brien County's 14-day positivity rate was down from 6 percent the week before to 5.9 percent, while Clay County's was down to 6.9 percent from 8 percent over the same time period. The statewide positivity rate was down from 8.6 percent to 7.5 percent.

Coronavirus-related deaths were up one in Clay County to 25 and up four in O'Brien County to 58. There have been 5,263 COVID-19 deaths statewide, up from 5,145 last week.

Confirmed infections since the pandemic began tallied 1,770 in O'Brien County, 1,815 in Clay County and 329,912 statewide. Recoveries in that same order were 1,652, 1,659 and 303,698.

As of Sunday, there were 240 coronavirus-related hospitalizations in Iowa, down from 318 the previous week. No hospitalizations were reported in either Clay County or O'Brien County.

O'Brien County had initiated 840 vaccine series as of Monday and completed 644. In Clay County, those numbers were 2,032 and 1,135, respectively. Statewide, 245,865 people had received their first dose while 125,558 had received their second.