By Beacon Staff
The second novel coronavirus (COVID-19) death in Des Moines County was confirmed Saturday by the Iowa Department of Public Health.
No further details, including who the person was, their location, or when they died, was provided. The first coronavirus death in Des Moines County was reported by the state health department on April 26.
The news comes on the heels of a reported outbreak at Prairie Ridge Care and Rehabilitation in Mediapolis, where three residents and one staff member tested positive. One of those four already had recovered by the time the outbreak was reported.
As of 1 p.m. Saturday, 69 cases of COVID-19 had been reported in Des Moines County, and 50 of those have recovered. Nine additional COVID-19 deaths in Iowa have been reported since 10 a.m. Friday, raising the death toll to 598.
Another 386 cases have been reported since 10 a.m. Friday, bringing Iowa's total to 21,479 confirmed cases. Of that number, 12,697 have recovered.
Across Iowa, 23 COVID-19 patients were admitted to the hospital in the last 24 hours, bringing the state total to 299 hospitalized. Of those in the hospital, 102 are in intensive care while 62 are on ventilators.
One in every 17 Iowans has been tested at a positive rate of 11.6 percent.
Three counties in Iowa have been designated as possible hotspots by the Centers for Disease Control — Buena Vista County, Woodbury County, and Wright County.
The designation, which comes from an internal CDC document dated May 27 that was distributed to federal agencies, has not been made public. The CDC’s areas of concern are described as those counties “with the greatest burden who are still demonstrating growth.”
The CDC has declined to discuss the document.