COVID-19 cases are climbing again across Iowa. Of course, it's nowhere near the record levels from January.
New case counts have gone up every week for a month now and local hospitals are taking another look at mask policies.
CDC data used to monitor COVID locally shows COVID case counts are on the rise in Linn County.
Still, the same data shows the area's community COVID level is low. Meanwhile, Johnson County has a medium community level and Poweskiek County is the only county in the state with a high rating.
For some perspective, on January 19th this year there were 3,000 new cases in the county. The seven-day average was 430 cases according to the New York Times.
On May 17th, the total case count in Linn County is 350. Total deaths are under ten.
So far in this pandemic, there have been 770,000 COVID cases in Iowa with almost 9,600 people dying from the disease.
Dr. Dustin Arnold with UnityPoint Health in Cedar Rapids said his concern right now is staff getting sick while the hospital deals with a significant staff shortage.
"I can't have someone sick come into work, even if it's a mild illness," Dr. Arnold explained. "You can't take care of a patient sick. So part of our concern was seeing staff get sick."
Dr. Arnold said there is still confusion among the public about the difference between community levels and transmission levels.
"Community levels are for non-healthcare facilities. That's based on consumption of healthcare resources, the number of people in hospitals, and cases per 100,000 people," Dr. Arnold said.
Now transmission level is just factoring cases per 100,000 people.
He said when that level drops below 50 cases per 100,000 people, the policy was no mask needed except for direct contact with patient care.
Cases are now climbing and now Unitypoint Health has returned to universal masking for two consecutive weeks and then will re-evaluate.
It's not all about masking.
Dr. Arnold recommends those at high risk of COVID get their booster.
He said those less at risk should be more strategic when getting their extra dose.
"Last year if you remember we vaccinated everyone in the spring so everyone was vaccinated in the spring of 2021. By April, and so then in October they were susceptible again and we had that surge. If I knew then what I know now I would have had people wait to get it until the end of the summer"
Dr. Arnold told Iowa's News Now he thinks the mask policy will drop by July 1st.
Meanwhile, Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids has also returned to universal maskin as of May 16th.
In a statement from Mercy -Cedar Rapids:
Due to the increased incidence of COVID-19 in the community, Mercy Medical Center and MercyCare facilities have returned to universal masking precautions. Visitors, patient families, volunteers, and Mercy staff members are required to follow screen procedures and mask at all times while in Mercy facilities.
Mercy has temporarily returned to these precautions for the safety of hospitalized patients and the community. The changes will remain in place as we continue to monitor local rates of infection.