Reynolds says Iowa hospitals equipped to handle surge of COVID-19 patients
Johnson County currently has 20 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, with 7 of these patients in intensive care. There is not a predicted shortage of ICU beds or ventilators within the state.
Gov. Kim Reynolds gives the Condition of the State address at the Iowa State Capitol on Tuesday, January 14, 2020.
April 7, 2020
As total cases of COVID-19 in Iowa topped 1000, Gov. Kim Reynolds said the state has the resources needed to handle the increase in cases in the coming weeks.
In a press conference Tuesday morning, Reynolds shared hospitalization and ventilator numbers for regions 5 and 6, which cover the eastern part of the state.
In region 6, which includes Johnson County, 20 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized, 7 are in intensive care, and 3 are currently on ventilators. The region has a total of 181 ventilators available.
““Despite our increase in cases, our patient volume in these regions is manageable. Hospital capacity is strong, and ventilators are in good supply,” Reynolds said. “This is encouraging, but we are in a very fluid situation, which is why we continue to monitor everything very closely on a daily basis.”
Data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington predicts cases of coronavirus peaking on April 26. The model predicts there will not be a shortage of ICU beds or ventilators in the state.
While Reynolds has resisted instituting a statewide shelter-in-place order, a point system was developed to measure the severity of COVID-19 in each region.
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Johnson County and the surrounding area are at nine points out of a possible 12. If the point system reaches 10, a shelter-in-place order is recommended.
Reynolds announced 102 new positive cases at the press conference, bringing the statewide total to 1,048 cases. There are currently 134 cases in Johnson County and one death.
Sarah Reisetter, deputy director of the Iowa Department of Public Health, said that current data shows around 22% of coronavirus cases in the state have been healthcare workers.
Reisetter said the state will not be releasing data about the race and ethnicity of coronavirus patients in the state, as some other states have done. Reynolds says Iowa hospitals equipped to handle surge of COVID-19 patients
“We don’t have statistics that we would consider to be accurate or complete related to race and ethnicity information. That’s not something we plan to release at this point in time,” Reisetter said.
