BREAKING NEWS: For the third week in a row, covid-19 hospitalizations in Iowa have hit their highest numbers for the year, as the state’s positivity rate roars upward and deaths continue to rise.

According to the latest numbers from the Iowa Department of Public Health, there are 823 patients in hospitals with covid, including 173 in intensive care and 103 on ventilators. There were 10,476 new reported COVID-19 cases over the past week, an average of 1,497 per day, and the state’s 14-day positivity rate is 11.3 percent.

As in neighboring Illinois, the numbers are largely driven by the unvaccinated. More than 80 percent of the patients in the ICUs are unvaccinated, and almost 80 percent of all patients are unvaccinated. Only 55 percent of Iowa’s population — a total of 1.8 million — is fully vaccinated. Roughly 40 percent of those vaccinated Iowans have received a booster dose.

Despite the numbers soaring, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has remained mum on any new mitigations or restrictions, in contrast to Illinois, which is on the precipice of even more mitigations beyond its statewide mask mandate.

In the Iowa Quad-Cities, the situation is in a “critical” state according to the Scott County Health Department.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has remained silent on any further mitigations against covid in the state.

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Sean Leary Director of Digital Media

Sean Leary is an author, director, artist, musician, producer and entrepreneur who has been writing professionally since debuting at age 11 in the pages of the Comics Buyers Guide. An honors graduate of the University of Southern California masters program, he has written over 50 books including the best-sellers The Arimathean, Every Number is Lucky to Someone and We Are All Characters.