Washington County confirmed another COVID-19 death this week, as the number of patients in the Intensive Care Unit increased regionally and statewide.

The state coronavirus dashboard shows as of Wednesday that 68 Washington County residents have died due to COVID-related illness, while across Iowa the number is 7,858. Currently, there are 22 long term care center outbreaks across the state. Hospitalizations decreased from 747 statewide last week to now 711, and from 177 in southeast Iowa to 150. However, the state’s ICU intake is larger, from 158 patients last week to 165 and from 52 to 60 patients in the southeast region. Those not fully vaccinated account for 85.5% of COVID patients in the ICU, and 81.6% of those hospitalized.

The 14-day average positive test rate also increased from 10.8 to 10.9% in Iowa and 7.9 to 8.3% in Washington County. Vaccinations increased slightly from 54.2 to 54.5% in Washington County and from 58.5 to 58.9% for Iowa, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.