Iowa has had 45,981 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 885 deaths, and 33,925 recovered people so far, as of Tuesday. A recovery rate of nearly 74%. Statewide as of Tuesday, there were 243 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, 75 in intensive care, and 32 people on ventilators.

Washington County Public Health Director Danielle Pettit-Majewski provided a local update at Tuesday’s Washington County Board of Supervisors meeting. She advised that there has been a delay in data presented on the Iowa COVID-19 website, and they are transitioning to a new system in the next few weeks. She said there has been an uptick in COVID-19 hospitalizations in the southeast region of Iowa.

Pettit-Majewski said her office and emergency management have continued conversations with area school leaders, “One of the major things that has been discussed in the last few days, when the Governor put out her Return to Learn guidance for school districts was the percent positivity rate for the 14-day average. That will determine how schools proceed with their Return to Learn plans and what some of the suggested strategies are. And so, that is information that Marissa [Reisen, Washington County Emergency Management Coordinator] and I are providing to all of the local school districts on a daily basis.”

Reynolds’ guidance outlines that school districts can request waivers from the state for up to 14 days of online learning if there is 15-20% positivity in a county and 10% absenteeism among students or if there is greater than 20% positivity in a county and there are healthcare resource capacity concerns. Pettit-Majewski said that on Monday, Washington County’s 14-day percent positive was 6.7% and Johnson County’s rate was 6.3%.