COVID numbers on the rise

Several weeks ago, Greater Regional Health (GRH) employees were excited to roll out a new mask guidelines that allowed for masks to be optional in the hospital as long as COVID transmission rates were reported by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) as either low or moderate in Union County.

“We were super excited,” said Kayla Hoffman, director of marketing communications. “We could start utilizing GRH as a bubble to keep employees and visitors safe.”

Since the inception of the guidelines, the numbers have remained either low or moderate. Those rates allowed for patients and visitors to opt out of wearing a mask as long as they weren’t displaying COVID symptoms. Low and moderate levels also allow patients unlimited visitors, while substantial and high numbers limit visitors to two.

Since early March, most days have resulted in zero positive COVID tests in Union County. There was even a nearly two week period without a single positive tests.

On Monday, the numbers jumped. Five new cases were reported May 19 with 11 reported on May 25. At 16 positive tests, the transmission rate has increased to high.

“Everyone is hoping that COVID was over, but we aren’t there yet,” Hoffman said. “We were in high spirits; now we’re rolling back a little bit.”

Union County is not alone as a number of surrounding counties have also moved up in status over the last week.

To be in the low category, a county must have less than 10 cases per 100,000 people. With Union County only having a population of 12,000, one case here is 8.33 cases per 100,000 people.

For Union County, to be in the low category, there can’t be more than one case. Moderate is 2-6 cases, substantial is 7-12 cases and high is 13 or more. These numbers our specific to our population size and are used by GRH to simplify the data.

The hospital updates their guidelines weekly using the latest data. The signs are posted on the entryways of the hospital as well as on their website and Facebook page. The ask for patience as the process is fluid. Masking guidelines may change week to week.

“It’s a bummer that we have to go back to it,” Hoffman said. “We hit another spike, but things will even out.”