DES MOINES, Iowa — Local 5 continues to answer your questions about how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the world.
A viewer named Deb asked us two questions:
- Was the Iowa State Fair a "super spreader" event?
- What is the COVID case counts for in-person students and staff so far this school year in the Des Moines metro?
Sources:
- Iowa Department of Public Health's COVID-19 website
- Dr. Ravi Vemuri, infectious disease specialist at MercyOne Des Moines
Was the Iowa State Fair a "super spreader" event?
It's hard to tell at this point because there isn't enough data.
"It has the potential to be, obviously, to be one. I wouldn't necessarily call it one right at the moment," said Dr. Vemuri. "So if we suddenly see a surge on top of our existing surge and we take histories and find that the majority of the people did, in fact, attend the fair, then in retrospect, you would call that a superspreader event."
Available data from IDPH does show an uptick in cases throughout August, but that doesn't mean it was due to people attending the fair.
Local 5 reached out to IDPH to confirm if contract tracing found the recent uptick to be from the fair, but we have yet to hear back.
The bottom line is that it's too early to tell right now. Local 5 will monitor the data to see what happens.
What is the COVID case counts for in-person students and staff so far this school year in the Des Moines metro?
Before we tackle that question, it's important to know that not all schools are reporting this data. They're not required to share that information with parents.
Here's what we found from districts that are reporting case counts:
- Des Moines Public Schools: 16 cases among students, staff
- Urbandale Community School District: Four buildings reporting 1-5 cases each among students, staff
- Marshalltown Community School District: 23 cases among students, staff
It should be noted that these numbers don't show the full picture or represent what is happening in all Iowa schools.