Current levels mirror September 2020 levels
New COVID infection rates are up in Wright County as compared to last week, but are still rated low. However, just across the county line into Kossuth, Hancock, Cerro Gordo, and Franklin counties rates are at the high end of the spectrum. And Wright County hospitalizations were down, but had begun trending upward.
As calculated last Thursday, September 15 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) infection rates in Wright County were up by 150%. The percentage of staffed inpatient hospital beds in use by confirmed COVID patients was 4.9%, which was a statistically insignificant decline of 0.3%. The percentage of staffed beds in the Intensive Care Units (ICU) was at 5.7%, a more significant decline of 4.7% from the week prior. However, in both ICU and inpatient beds, the rate had shot up from near zero in the prior few days, showing a sharp upward trend potentially emerging.
Statewide, there were 5,261 positive tests in the 7 days prior to the 13th, with 151 of those in Wright County. 13 deaths had been reported in the state in September, so far. Nearly all the cases which had been detected were of the original Alpha variant of COVID.
Worrisomely, the current rate of infection is nearly at the same level as it was in 2020, as shown by CDC data. Which suggests that the winter of 2022-'23 may play out with a massive spike of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. As was the case in the winters of '21-'22, and 20-'21.
CDC data shows September 2022 is off to a start like September 2020, suggesting we may be in for another winter spike of cases. | CDC/Public Domain.
New data is calculated by the CDC on Thursdays by the CDC, and by the Iowa Department of Public Health on Tuesdays. New numbers should be available by the time this article is published.
CDC data can be found at:
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/
IDPH data can be found at:
https://idph.iowa.gov/Emerging-Health-Issues/Novel-Coronavirus/COVID-19-Reporting/
