COVID update: 2 more deaths, 24 new cases
Staff writer
Two additional deaths and 24 new cases of COVID-19 were disclosed Thursday and Friday by county health officials.
No further information was released on the deaths, which bring the county's pandemic death toll to 10, but officials have said previously that reports of deaths often are delayed for weeks or months.
The latest cases bring the county's total number of cases, according to county data, to 967. State data, which on Monday listed the total at 12 more than what the county was reporting at the time, now list 14 more cases than county officials do.
County health officials reported that 49 county residents were under isolation orders or continued to experience symptoms or receive treatment Friday evening. Countless others who might have been exposed to them were under quarantine orders. Three county residents were reported to be hospitalized because of coronavirus.
The new numbers provided further evidence that a post-holidays surge in new COVID cases appears to be ebbing. The number of new cases reported in the past seven days now stands at 29 — the lowest seven-day total on a reporting day since Oct. 29. A week ago, the seven-day total was 36. A week before that, it was 58. The highest seven-day total was 90 on Jan. 10.
The number of new cases in the past 14 days now stands at 65. Two weeks ago, it was 125. Two weeks before that it was 141. The highest 14-day total on a reporting day was 161 on Nov. 12.
For the third time since the pandemic began, Bethesda Home in Goessel was identified by the state this week as the site of a COVID-19 "cluster." It was one of 10 nursing homes in the state designed as having COVID cluster this week. The latest state listing says Bethesda had nine new cases in the 14 days that ended Jan. 28.
According to state data, 12.96% of Marion County residents who have been tested for COVID-19 because of contact tracing since Sunday tested positive. The county's rate of positive testing, a key indicator of the seriousness of the pandemic, has been above 10% every week since Oct. 18. Statewide, the rate this week is only 5.80%.
The greatest number of new cases and the highest rate of positive testing in the county this week has been among those ages 35 to 44, according to state data. Other groups with greater than average positivity rates were 5- to 10-year-olds, 25- to 34-year-olds, and 65- to 74-year olds.
County officials' next update, scheduled for Tuesday evening instead of Monday, will be reported only in next week's print editions of the newspaper unless a significant change is apparent.
Last modified Feb. 6, 2021