DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Iowa posted another 35 deaths from coronavirus Monday continuing the high level of deaths related to the pandemic.
The seven-day rolling average of daily deaths in Iowa has risen over the past two weeks from 29 deaths per day on Nov. 22 to 45 deaths per day on Sunday, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University.
Among COVID-19 deaths reported over the weekend was that of Larry Donell Whaley, 64, an Anamosa State Penitentiary inmate with underlying medical conditions who died at a hospital on Saturday. He had been sentenced in 2018 to 50 years for second-degree murder.
The Iowa Department of Human Services announced Monday the first COVID-19 death of a resident at one of its facilities. The agency said it would not identify the facility where the death occurred, or when it happened “to protect the identity of the clients served and respect the wishes of grieving families.”
The agency operates the Boys State Training School in Eldora, the Cherokee Mental Health Institute, the Independence Mental Health Institute, the Civil Commitment Unit for Sexual Offenders, the Woodward Resource Center and the Glenwood Resource Center.
The state’s total death count at 2,717 is the 28th highest in the country and the 20th highest per capita at 85 deaths per 100,000 people, Johns Hopkins data shows.
State health officials reported Monday 912 new confirmed cases in the previous 24 hours. State data indicates new case trends have slowed with the average number of daily new cases decreasing by nearly 37% in the past two weeks. Although slowing, the virus spread remains high in Iowa. There were 1,083 new cases per 100,000 people in Iowa over the past two weeks, which ranks 16th in the country for new cases per capita. One in every 195 people in Iowa tested positive in the past week.
State data also shows positive trends with fewer hospitalized patients at 898 on Monday and fewer people admitted in the last 24 hours.
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