Iowa had six more deaths and 189 new cases of COVID-19 according to Governor Kim Reynolds on Tuesday. According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, as of Tuesday at noon, Iowa had 1,899 cases of the upper respiratory virus. Reynolds said there were 163 hospitalized patients. Overall, 790 Iowans have recovered for a recovery rate of 42%.

Washington County Public Health Director Danielle Pettit-Majewski provided a local update at Tuesday’s Washington County Board of Supervisors meeting. She said there has been some information received regarding projected cases in the next few weeks, “The peak of this is looking to be at the end of the month. There’s some data that has been sent out that looks like the peak for our dates of death is probably, I think, May 6th or May 5th. And I just want to remind people that the peak is the top, and so we still have to go up and then we have to come down. And so, cases and deaths are going to lag. And hospitalizations and case counts will lag. We look at that as trying to widen that gap so we aren’t over-stressing our infrastructure.”

Pettit-Majewski encourages people to continue safe practices to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including social distancing and washing hands frequently with soap and water for 20 seconds.