COVID-19 vaccines delivered in time for Christmas

Thousands of Iowa's healthcare workers received an early Christmas gift last week as the first wave of COVID-19 vaccine was distributed across the state.

     On Friday, December 18, the Moderna vaccine received emergency approval from the FDA, jumpstarting the state's efforts to roll out inoculations. By Tuesday of the next week, 8,400 healthcare workers had already been vaccinated.

     "Distribution of the Moderna vaccine began immediately upon final approval Friday," said Governor Kim Reynolds on Tuesday, December 22. "Because the Mordena vaccine does not require ultra-cold storage, it is able to be distributed to rural areas across the state."

     Front line health care workers and long term care facility staff and residents are the first priority for receiving COVID-19 vaccines. Once those populations have been vaccinated and as more vaccine becomes available, the state will open the vaccine up to other demographics. While no decisions have been made yet, the CDC is recommending that the second wave of vaccinations target adults over the age of 75 and frontline essential workers, particularly those whose jobs provide greater potential exposure to the virus.

     As of Sunday, December 27, there have been 275,295confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state, increasing the 267,248 total from the week prior by 8,047 cases. With just 8,000 new cases reported, the downward trend of new cases continues in a welcome direction. To put into context, the number of new cases per week is roughly one-third of what they were just a month ago.

     In the last two weeks, 6% of new cases have been among the elderly (age 80+), 17% among older adults (60-79); 30% among middle aged adults (40-59); 34% among young adults (18-39); and 13% among children.

     With 228,757 considered recovered, that leaves roughly 42,793 Iowans currently known to be fighting the disease, dropping the number of active cases by roughly 8,000.

     Hospitalizations continue their downward trend as well, with 586 hospitalized as of Sunday, including 111 in an ICU.

     The State Hygienic Lab and COVID-19 testing sites were closed for Christmas Day and will be closed again for New Year's Day.

     The State of Iowa crossed the three million milestone last week, with 3,000,497 tests given to 1,342,455 individuals since the pandemic began, including 2,189,844 PCR tests and 810,653 antigen tests. In the last week, the state has processed 58,522 PCR tests and 66,352 antigen tests.

     The two-week positivity rate currently sits at 8%, a reduction from last week's 8.7% rate.

     In addition, 85,563 Iowans have undergone serology testing for coronavirus antibodies, which would indicate that they have had the virus. Of that number, 8,327, about 10%, have tested positive for antibodies.

     The state has reported an additional 156 COVID-19 related deaths in the last week, bringing the total death count in Iowa to 3,745. Due to a change in how the state documents COVID-19 related deaths, there is now a larger lag time between death and reporting. Thus, the 156 new deaths reported over the last week largely happened multiple weeks ago.

     In total, approximately 2,175 elderly (58.08%); 1,303 older adults (34.79%), 228 middle aged adults (6.09%), 37 young adults (.99%), and at least one child (.05%) have died from the virus since the pandemic began.

     Of the new deaths, only two have been attributed to outbreaks in long term care facilities, bringing the number of fatal cases in these facilities to 1,137.

     The number of long term care facilities with outbreaks dropped again this week with a reduction of 16 bringing the total to 126 facilities consisting of 5,277 positive individuals with 3,300 considered recovered.

     "Before too long, more Iowans will be rolling up their sleeves to be vaccinated," said Reynolds. "But until then we can't forget that the virus is still active in our communities. So continue to social distance. Wear a mask, avoid large gatherings, wash your hands, and stay home when you're stick. For now these things are still our best defense against COVID-19."