Tag Archives: Decline

Health

Iowa’s COVID-19 hospitalizations increase, positivity rates decline

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The number of Iowans hospitalized with COVID-19 increased overnight, but the state’s positivity rates continue to decline.The Iowa Department of Public Health reported 802 new positive COVID-19 cases and four additional deaths Tuesday.As of 10 a.m., the health department reported 314,065 total cases, 276,451 total recoveries and 4,492 total deaths. The health department reported 313,263 total cases and 4,488 total deaths 24 hours earlier. Five TestIowa sites closed early Monday due to the winter storm. State-operated TestIowa drive-thru sites in Council Bluffs and Des Moines will remain closed Tuesday. Those closures may have an impact on reported test data.Iowa reports the 14-day positivity rate has dropped from 11% to 10.3% overnight. The 7-day rate dropped from 8.5% to 8%. State data shows 1,451,975 Iowans have been tested for COVID-19, while 3,525,271 tests have been administered.The number of Iowa’s 99 counties reporting a positivity rate greater than 15% has dropped to seven from nine a day earlier. Kossuth County leads the state at 20.4%. No other county tops 20%. Fifty-one Iowa counties report a rate lower than 10%. Marshall County reports the lowest rate in the state at 4.8%.The number of Iowans hospitalized with the virus increased from 383 to 415 overnight. There were 49 patients admitted in the last 24 hours, up from 40 the previous day. There are 78 patients in ICU and 37 patients on ventilators.There are now 60 long-term care facilities reporting outbreaks in the state, down from 68 a day earlier. The health department reports 1,941 positive cases and 1,102 recoveries among residents and staff within those facilities. There have been 1,866 deaths reported in Iowa’s long-term care facilities.The Iowa Department of Public Health offers virus data in real time on this website. KCCI publishes a daily summary at 10 a.m.Gov. Kim Reynolds will host a news conference on the state’s virus response Wednesday at 11 a.m. You can watch the news conference live on KCCI-TV, the KCCI Breaking News and Weather App, KCCI.com or the KCCI Facebook page.

DES MOINES, Iowa —

The number of Iowans hospitalized with COVID-19 increased overnight, but the state’s positivity rates continue to decline.

The Iowa Department of Public Health reported 802 new positive COVID-19 cases and four additional deaths Tuesday.

As of 10 a.m., the health department reported 314,065 total cases, 276,451 total recoveries and 4,492 total deaths. The health department reported 313,263 total cases and 4,488 total deaths 24 hours earlier. Five TestIowa sites closed early Monday due to the winter storm. State-operated TestIowa drive-thru sites in Council Bluffs and Des Moines will remain closed Tuesday. Those closures may have an impact on reported test data.

Iowa reports the 14-day positivity rate has dropped from 11% to 10.3% overnight. The 7-day rate dropped from 8.5% to 8%. State data shows 1,451,975 Iowans have been tested for COVID-19, while 3,525,271 tests have been administered.

The number of Iowa’s 99 counties reporting a positivity rate greater than 15% has dropped to seven from nine a day earlier. Kossuth County leads the state at 20.4%. No other county tops 20%. Fifty-one Iowa counties report a rate lower than 10%. Marshall County reports the lowest rate in the state at 4.8%.

The number of Iowans hospitalized with the virus increased from 383 to 415 overnight. There were 49 patients admitted in the last 24 hours, up from 40 the previous day. There are 78 patients in ICU and 37 patients on ventilators.

There are now 60 long-term care facilities reporting outbreaks in the state, down from 68 a day earlier. The health department reports 1,941 positive cases and 1,102 recoveries among residents and staff within those facilities. There have been 1,866 deaths reported in Iowa’s long-term care facilities.

The Iowa Department of Public Health offers virus data in real time on this website. KCCI publishes a daily summary at 10 a.m.

Gov. Kim Reynolds will host a news conference on the state’s virus response Wednesday at 11 a.m. You can watch the news conference live on KCCI-TV, the KCCI Breaking News and Weather App, KCCI.com or the KCCI Facebook page.

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Business

Godiva to close all 128 chocolate stores in North America, citing decline in shoppers due to pandemic

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Chocolatier Godiva will be shuttering its 128 store and café locations across North America at the end of March, the company announced Sunday, citing a decrease in demand for in-person shopping during the pandemic.

Godiva’s sweet treats will still be available online and inside partnering retail and grocery stores across the continent going forward, the company said. It will maintain in-store operations across Europe, the Middle East and Greater China.

“We have always been focused on what our consumers need and how they want to experience our brand, which is why we have made this decision,” CEO Nurtac Afridi said in a statement.

The Belgian chocolate-maker did not disclose the number of employees who will be affected by the North American decision.

“They lost between half their business which is done due to tourists, the other 25 percent of the business which is done due to special occasion, and another 25 percent which is done to impulse,” Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst at the NPD Group market research company, told NBC News. “Where’s the business coming from? Everything moved to online with great ease.”

“If we’re not socializing as much as we did and we’re not having special events and special occasions, that’s going to impact the business to some degree,” he said.

Godiva is one of the hundreds of thousands of store closures that have come amid a massive decline in in-person shopping during the pandemic.

Other retailers to announce store closures since March include Macy’s, JCPenney, Bed Bath & Beyond, Victoria’s Secret, Francesca’s, Zara, Express and more.

Many retailers, including Godiva, have focused on leveraging their digital footprint in order to successfully reach customers.

“Online has leapfrogged forward three years,” Cohen said. “Consumers have clearly educated themselves on how to purchase basically anything from anywhere, at any time, at any price.”

According to Adobe Analytics, online shopping hit nearly $200 billion during the holiday shopping season alone.

Chocolate sales have also been on the rise since the pandemic hit. In 2020, Americans spent nearly $15 billion on chocolate, a 5 percent increase since 2019, while Canadians spent a little over $2 billion, a 7 percent jump.

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Health

Coronavirus Live Updates: Hospitalizations, Newly Reported Cases Decline

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Gov. Gavin Newsom has lifted regional stay-at-home orders across California, meaning hair salons and outdoor dining at restaurants could reopen in many counties for the first time since early December.

The state will now return to a county-by-county model for reopening, with tiers of restrictions based on the county’s test positivity rate and coronavirus caseload, according to an announcement by state public-health officials Monday morning.

All but four of the state’s 58 counties still fall under the most restrictive purple tier, where transmission of the virus remains widespread. In those areas, many businesses that can’t operate outdoors must remain closed and even bars and breweries with outdoor space cannot reopen.

State public-health officials said the decision to exit the state’s stay-at-home order was made after they projected that all five of the state’s regions would exceed 15% capacity of their intensive-care units within the next four weeks. The Newsom administration hasn’t shared how it makes those calculations or the data behind them.

“Together, we changed our activities knowing our short-term sacrifices would lead to longer-term gains,” said California public health officer Dr. Tomás Aragón. “Covid-19 is still here and still deadly, so our work is not over, but it’s important to recognize our collective actions saved lives and we are turning a critical corner.”

Mr. Newsom has been under increasing political pressure to reopen the economy in California, where cases remain high despite having some of the tightest restrictions in the country. Over the weekend, proponents of an effort to recall him said they had gathered more than 1.2 million signatures to qualify a recall for the ballot.

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