Governor says Iowa hospitals can handle influx of Covid patients

covid-19

Des Moines, Ia (Radio Iowa)-  Governor Kim Reynolds says Iowa hospitals have the resources to manage this month’s surge in Covid patient admissions.

Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson reports that on Wednesday evening, the state’s coronavirus tracker indicated 530 Covid patients were being treated in an Iowa hospital. That’s 44 percent more than a month ago and higher than in any previous month of the pandemic. Reynolds says about 10 percent of Iowa hospital patients have Covid and she says hospital executives have assured her they have enough ventilators and space in intensive care units to handle current case loads.

The state tracker indicates there are Covid outbreaks at 70 nursing homes and more than 18-hundred Iowa nursing home residents currently have Covid.