A suburban Des Moines educator has died from complications of COVID-19, but it's unclear if she contracted the virus at school or elsewhere.
The principal of Indian Hills Junior High School says special education assistant Jennifer Crawford, died Monday. The school is in West Des Moines. Iowa has the fourth-highest coronavirus positivity rate in the nation.
Only 10 of Iowa's 99 counties are below the 5% threshold at which public health experts recommend measures to slow the spread of the virus, including mandatory masks and limits on gatherings.
According to the latest data provided by the state, the COVID-19 hospitalization total in Iowa rose to its highest count in five months today.
This morning, 413 Iowans were hospitalized because of the coronavirus, per the state's data totals on its coronavirus.iowa.gov website. That figure is up from 389 on yesterday and the highest daily report since a count of 417 on May 6.
Another 11 people with COVID-19 have died in Iowa, and there have been an additional 522 confirmed cases, the state reports today.
Today, Woodbury County has 12 more cases of Covid-19 and two more deaths, for a total of 5 984 cases and 73 deaths and a 14.6% positivity rate. According to the Siouxland District Health Department, the two people who died included a man older than 80 years old and a man in the age range from 61 to 80 years old. The county's death toll from COVID-19 now stands at 73.
The county also reported 12 new positive test cases of the novel coronavirus Friday. Overall, there have been 5984 cases in Woodbury County.
Citing a rise in the number of the novel coronavirus cases in Woodbury County, officials of Briar Cliff University today said they were elevating the COVID-19 operation level from yellow to orange, which means more remote learning.
A university release said the action was taken as a precautionary measure amid rising county cases and did not specify any number of positive cases for Briar Cliff personnel or students.
