DES MOINES, Iowa — Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Thursday new changes coming to Iowa's COVID-19 dashboard, and some of those changes can be tricky to understand.
The biggest reveal is the new summary page, which will be updated every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
The Iowa Department of Public Health has yet to clarify at what time the numbers will be updated.
The data on the summary page includes:
- Testing
- Positive tests over the last seven days (NOTE: This is not the same as positive individuals)
- Total positive tests (NOTE: This is not the same as positive individuals)
- 14-day positivity rate
- Hospitalizations
- Total COVID patients hospitalized
- COVID patients in intensive care units (ICUs)
- COVID patients admitted in the last 24 hours
- Deaths
- Deaths reported over the last seven days
- Total deaths
- Vaccinations
- Total doses administered
- 18+ fully vaccinated
- 12+ with at least one dose
- Breakdown of how many unvaccinated Iowans account for COVID patients in general and in the ICU
- Long-term care facilities
- Total number of facility outbreaks
The summary page is just an image, meaning Iowans are not able to download the data presented. The picture below is the data released from the IDPH on Friday, Sept. 3.
If Iowans want to download any COVID data, they will have to rely on the other pages listed on the website. Those pages, according to the website, will be each Wednesday.
Here is what will be updated on Wednesdays:
- Positive Case Analysis
- Because total tests and negative tests are updated on this page only weekly, the total number of positive individuals, as well as the positivity rate, can only be calculated on Wednesdays.
- Hospital Data
- Outcome Analysis Deaths
Lastly, the state's vaccine dashboard will continue to be updated daily. The updated dashboard now includes vaccine data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) along with IDPH's data.
Vaccine data are still downloadable on the website for:
- Total Doses Administered by Recipient County of Residence
- Total Doses Administered by County of Vaccine Provider
- Vaccine Series Completion by Recipient County of Residence
- Vaccine Series Completion by County of Vaccine Provider
So, what does this mean for the data that Local 5 collects?
Local 5 will continue to update our running article with the latest data available.
The top portion of the story will include the image of data from IDPH for the day while the bottom will still focus on the weekly updates.
Health officials urge everyone to continue to practice mitigation strategies to stop the spread of COVID-19:
- Get vaccinated
- Wear a mask as the CDC recommends
- Stay home when you're sick
- Wash your hands frequently
- Practice social distancing