A spike of COVID-19 recovered cases was reported by the Iowa Department of Public Health Tuesday. The large increase came after guidance for classifying someone as recovered was changed and announced by the Governor. From Monday to Tuesday 5,320 new cases were listed as recovered with Iowa’s recovery rate jumping from 61.8% on Monday to 79.7% on Tuesday. Now people who test positive for COVID-19 are automatically listed as recovered 28 days later, unless the state has information that a person is hospitalized and not recovered.

Public health officials contact everyone who tests positive for case investigation and contact tracing, they then call 10 days later to see if people have recovered. However, many of the follow up calls go unanswered or unreturned. Many people have mild illness and recover at home without medical attention. Now, people who have gone through two incubation periods of the virus, or 28 days, are deemed recovered.

Washington County Public Health Director Danielle Pettit-Majewski urges people to continue best practices to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and employers can help in that effort, “It’s still really beneficial if you’re able to stagger shifts, if you’re able to stagger breaks. If people can work from home, allow them to continue doing so. You know, the more distance you can put between your staff while maintaining your operations the better you’re going to be. And it’s doing an easy thing up front, to avoid doing a harder thing down the road, that’s really where it’s prevention. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

On Tuesday, 209 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported in Iowa with six new deaths for a total of 713 statewide since the last week of March.

Earlier this week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that people from 16 states, including Iowa, must self-quarantine for 14 days if traveling to New York state.