State Department of Health Does Not Report COVID-19 Reinfections

Iowa doesn’t come with the same user’s upcoming COVID-19 infections in the number of new cases it reports to the federal health government or in weekly case updates on its website, although other states do.

In addition, officials at the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services say they are not aware of the rate of those reinfections in the state despite having the knowledge necessary to calculate it.

A reinfection occurs when a user tests for the coronavirus more than 90 days after a first test.

“We do not have and do not have a COVID-19 reinfection rate calculated for the state,” said Sarah Ekstrand, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services. “Given the evolution of the virus and the emergence of new variants, COVID-19 reinfections are not uncommon. “

The state’s testing program is imperative to track the prevalence of the virus and its variants. The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and PreventionU. S. citizens use state knowledge, as well as hospital reports, about the risk of infection in each county and to consult citizens on how to avoid infection. When the risk is high, for example, the CDC recommends dressing in a mask in public places.

Since those tests are based on consistent capita infection rates, the lack of coverage of cases could cause the CDC to underestimate the threats.

The state’s actual number of new weekly infections in its most recent reporting period, which ended Tuesday, may have been just 28 percent higher than reported, according to state testing data.

It’s unclear why state fitness officials report cases of reinfection, as well as early infections. Ekstrand responded to a request for justification. A spokesman for Gov. Kim Reynolds responded to requests for comment on the article.

“CDC relies on knowledge provided through U. S. jurisdictions. “In the U. S. , and few jurisdictions collect or report on reinfection,” he said.

Missouri reinfections in its weekly case reports, said Lisa Cox, a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Health and Elder Services.

The same goes for Minnesota, and state fitness officials are scrambling to analyze reinfections to perceive when they’re most likely to occur, said Garry Bowman, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Public Health.

“We’re trying to find more through finding the timing between infections and how it relates to vaccination,” Bowman said. a role in those interactions. “

In response to questions about how Iowans can stay informed about the virus for their health, Ekstrand said, “The most productive thing Iowans can do on their own in the face of serious illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths is to keep up with COVID-19 vaccines and boosters and comply with CDC rules for isolation if infected.

At the time, Reynolds said that after nearly two years of pandemic, it was no longer necessary to “treat COVID-19 as a public health emergency. “This is weeks after the state recorded its highest infection rates of the pandemic.

At the beginning of the pandemic, when the risk of fatal infection was much higher, the state provided daily updates.

Now, it updates a website of the former Iowa Department of Public Health on Wednesday with less complete information. The branch was merged with the Department of Social Services.

The website prominently shows the number of positive controls from last week, which is different from what is reported to the CDC. These checks come with the first infections, reinfections, and duplicate checks for other inflamed people who had to test negative before returning to work or traveling, for example.

This means that the number of positive tests is likely an excessive count of documented infections, while the number of cases reported through the state is insufficient coverage as they come with reinfections.

The situation has been further clouded by the widespread availability of loose instant checks at home, which the state does not follow. Polk County is using those household check effects to get “a more detailed picture of our county’s positivity rate,” said Nola Aigner Davis, a spokeswoman for the Polk County Health Department. She said the county has gained about 1,650 of the self-reported infection confirmations since the beginning of July.

Reporting reinfections is vital to tracking the virus because many Iowans have already become inflamed once, said Eli Perencevich, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Iowa.

“Since other reinfected people can infect you, it would be important to know that there are many more instances to assess your personal and private safety,” he said. “There are still older people, immunocompromised, other people undergoing cancer chemotherapy, who still want to protect themselves from COVID and other viruses, so I think it’s up to the state to provide that data.

State tests have conclusively shown that 27 percent of Iowans have become inflamed, but the actual percentage is likely much higher due to asymptomatic infections and other people who received poor health but were not tested. The CDC estimated that about 60 percent of Americans had become inflamed by February.

Sara Anne Willette of Ames has been collecting information on infections since the beginning of the pandemic on her website, Iowa COVID-19 Tracker. commonly living in isolation for more than two years.

Your site has about some of the traffic it peaked last winter, when the state’s infection rate also peaked. Although public interest in his paintings has waned, Willette predicts that more people will stop at the site this winter if there is a new wave of infections. Either way, it feels compelled to cut back on its reporting, despite this trend among government agencies.

Even the CDC has reduced its reporting, he said, and no longer provides Sunday updates.

“If knowledge is available, in my opinion, I deserve to review it to update it as humanly as possible, because the more data we have, the greater the possible choices we can make,” Willette said.

The death toll from COVID-19 in the state will surpass 10,000 in the next weekly report.

by Jared Strong, Iowa Capital Dispatch September 16, 2022

Iowa doesn’t come with the same user’s upcoming COVID-19 infections in the number of new cases it reports to the federal health government or in weekly case updates on its website, although other states do.

In addition, officials at the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services say they are not aware of the rate of those reinfections in the state despite having the knowledge necessary to calculate it.

A reinfection occurs when a user tests for the coronavirus more than 90 days after a first test.

“We do not have and do not have a COVID-19 reinfection rate calculated for the state,” said Sarah Ekstrand, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services. “Given the evolution of the virus and the emergence of new variants, COVID-19 reinfections are not uncommon. “

The state’s testing program is imperative to track the prevalence of the virus and its variants. The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and PreventionU. S. citizens use state knowledge, as well as hospital reports, about the risk of infection in each county and to consult citizens on how to avoid infection. When the risk is high, for example, the CDC recommends dressing in a mask in public places.

Since those tests are based on consistent capita infection rates, the lack of coverage of cases could cause the CDC to underestimate the threats.

The state’s actual number of new weekly infections in its most recent reporting period, which ended Tuesday, may have been just 28 percent higher than reported, according to state testing data.

It’s unclear why state fitness officials report cases of reinfection, as well as early infections. Ekstrand responded to a request for justification. A spokesman for Gov. Kim Reynolds responded to requests for comment on the article.

“CDC relies on knowledge provided through U. S. jurisdictions. “In the U. S. , and few jurisdictions collect or report on reinfection,” he said.

Missouri reinfections in its weekly case reports, said Lisa Cox, a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Health and Elder Services.

The same goes for Minnesota, and state fitness officials are scrambling to analyze reinfections to perceive when they’re most likely to occur, said Garry Bowman, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Public Health.

“We’re looking to find more through finding the timing between infections and how it relates to vaccination,” Bowman said. “Changes in behaviors, testing practices, major circulating variants, and the availability of vaccines or features of the remedy all play a role in those interactions. “

In response to questions about how Iowans can stay informed about the virus for their health, Ekstrand said, “The most productive thing Iowans can do on their own in the face of serious illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths is to keep up with COVID-19 vaccines and boosters and comply with CDC rules for isolation if infected.

At the time, Reynolds said that after nearly two years of pandemic, it was no longer necessary to “treat COVID-19 as a public health emergency. “This is weeks after the state recorded its highest infection rates of the pandemic.

At the beginning of the pandemic, when the risk of fatal infection was much higher, the state provided daily updates.

Now, it updates a website of the former Iowa Department of Public Health on Wednesday with less complete information. The branch was merged with the Department of Social Services.

The website prominently shows the number of positive controls from last week, which is different from what is reported to the CDC. These checks come with the first infections, reinfections, and duplicate checks for other inflamed people who had to test negative before returning to work or traveling, for example.

This means that the number of positive tests is likely an excessive count of documented infections, while the number of cases reported through the state is insufficient coverage as they come with reinfections.

The situation has been further clouded by the widespread availability of loose instant checks at home, which the state does not follow. Polk County is using those household check effects to get “a more detailed picture of our county’s positivity rate,” said Nola Aigner Davis, a spokeswoman for the Polk County Health Department. She said the county has gained about 1,650 of the self-reported infection confirmations since the beginning of July.

Reporting reinfections is vital to tracking the virus because many Iowans have already become inflamed once, said Eli Perencevich, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Iowa.

“Since other reinfected people can infect you, it would be important to know that there are many more instances to assess your personal and private safety,” he said. “There are still older people, immunocompromised, other people undergoing cancer chemotherapy, who still want to protect themselves from COVID and other viruses, so I think it’s up to the state to provide that data.

State tests have conclusively shown that 27 percent of Iowans have become inflamed, but the actual percentage is likely much higher due to asymptomatic infections and other people who received poor health but were not tested. The CDC estimated that about 60 percent of Americans had become inflamed by February.

Sara Anne Willette of Ames has been collecting information on infections since the beginning of the pandemic on her website, Iowa COVID-19 Tracker. commonly living in isolation for more than two years.

Your site has about some of the traffic it peaked last winter, when the state’s infection rate also peaked. Although public interest in his paintings has waned, Willette predicts that more people will stop at the site this winter if there is a new wave of infections. Either way, it feels compelled to cut back on its reporting, despite this trend among government agencies.

Even the CDC has reduced its reporting, he said, and no longer provides Sunday updates.

“If knowledge is available, in my opinion, I deserve to review it to update it as humanly as possible, because the more data we have, the greater the possible choices we can make,” Willette said.

The death toll from COVID-19 in the state will surpass 10,000 in the next weekly report.

Iowa Capital Dispatch is from States Newsroom, a network of grant-backed news offices and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains its editorial independence. Please contact Editor-in-Chief Kathie Obradovich if you have any questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch. com. Follow iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.

DEMOCRACY TOOLKIT

Iowans value the integrity of their government. Free and independent journalism is what enables our public servants to be accountable and responsive to citizens. That’s why Iowa Capital Dispatch, an independent, nonprofit source of quality journalism, works every day to keep you informed. of what government officials are doing with their money, freedom and security.

Our stories may be republished online or published under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4. 0 license. We ask that you edit them to your liking or reduce them, provide appropriate attribution and a link to our website.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *