By Sandy Dockendorff and William Smith
Des Moines County’s sudden drop in COVID-19 cases Friday has been attributed to a reporting error by the Iowa State Health Department.
Seven cases originally coded to Des Moines County were supposed to be coded to the city of Des Moines in Polk County. Friday’s Des Moines County COVID-19 cases were adjusted from 46 to 39 to reflect the error correction.
But questions about which cases were misreported, and when those cases were reported, have yet to be answered.
The Des Moines County Health Department confirmed the reporting error Friday, but could not clarify if the incorrectly coded cases were reported in the past week, or earlier than that. The county’s COVID-19 cases increased from 31 at the beginning of last week to 46 on Thursday, before being corrected to 39 Friday.
Without further detail about the timing, it is unknown if Des Moines County saw a spike of 15 cases in the past week, or just eight. The Des Moines County Health Department did note on Friday that the situation in Des Moines County is very stable.
Meanwhile, a coronavirus outbreak of 22 people at a Wapello nursing home in Louisa County was confirmed Friday.
Wapello Specialty Care announced Friday that 10 residents of the facility have contracted COVID-19, as well as 12 employees. Identities of the patients won’t be released, but family members have been notified, as well as staff and residents.
“We have been and will continue to screen all staff at the beginning and end of their shift for signs and symptoms of COVID-19,” facility administrators said in a press release on Friday.
A case of Pediatric Multi-system Inflammatory Syndrome was also reported in eastern Iowa Friday night by the Polk County Pediatric Medical Collaborative — the first in Iowa.
The syndrome is possibly connected to COVID-19, and an outbreak in New York has resulted in over 100 cases and at least three child deaths.
In addition to inflammation, symptoms include rash, abdominal pain, and vomiting.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds addressed the inflammatory syndrome during her Friday morning press conference, saying no cases had yet been identified. That was several hours before the first case was reported later that night.
Overall, Iowa hospitalizations for COVID-19 have decreased in the past week. The Iowa Department of Health reported the fewest patients on ventilators Friday than at any time in the past two-and-a-half weeks. Half as many people were hospitalized between Thursday and Friday then from the previous 24-hour reporting period.
Coronavirus case numbers have not been updated by the health department as of Saturday morning. According to Friday’s numbers, 374 new cases were reported, 18 more have died, and 330 have recovered.