Hunter
12/04/20
On a day that a then-record 70 Iowans were reported deceased due to COVID-19, Governor Kim Reynolds said there’s “light at the end of the tunnel.”
During Thursday’s news conference, Reynolds also cautioned Iowans to be patient. She continued her plea for Iowans to continue to “do the right thing” to mitigate the virus, saying that “we’re too close now to have to go through another surge.”
Kelly Garcia is director of the Iowa Department of Public Health. She said sometime between December 13th and 27th, the state will get over 170,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Each of the two vaccines require recipients to get two doses. In the case of the Pfizer vaccine, they’re taken three weeks apart; the Moderna vaccine is taken in two doses four weeks apart.
The initial available doses will go to hospital and other health care workers, and residents and workers at long-term care facilities. Garcia says by mid-2021, everyone who wants a vaccine will have access to one.
The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics was one of the study sites for the Pfizer vaccine trial; Dr. Brooks Jackson, UI VP for medical affairs and dean of the Carver College of Medicine, participated in the vaccine trial, and said Iowans should feel confident in the safety and effectiveness of both vaccines.
On Friday, Iowa reported 84 deaths in the 24 hour period ending that morning. Another 2900-plus people tested in the period were found to have the coronavirus, a positivity rate of 38.2 percent. Hospitalizations were down.
Meanwhile, hospital workers have been dealing with the physical and emotional effects of caring for the sick and dying. An Atlantic Magazine writer was at the UIHC last week and her article, “Iowa is What Happens When Government Does Nothing” is being shared on our Facebook page or can be found under Politics at www.theatlantic.com