Iowa reports 64 more COVID-19 deaths, 1,276 new cases wcfcourier.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wcfcourier.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Gazette Des Moines Bureau
IOWA CITY Another inmate in Iowa’s corrections system has died, likely due to complications related to COVID-19 and other preexisting medical conditions, state Department of Corrections officials said Monday.
Dale Dean Viers, 58, was pronounced dead at 4:40 a.m. Sunday at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
Viers, who originally was housed at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison, had been taken to the hospital several days earlier for more advanced care as his medical condition began to worsen, corrections officials said.
Corrections officials also report two staff members have died from COVID-19 complications since the virus was first detected in Iowa last March.
By Jamie Nicpon | Office of Communications & Marketing | 12-14-2020
This winter, a staggering number of U.S. health care facilities experienced a dramatic surge in COVID-19 patients. As facilities attempted to add physical space in order to care for this influx in patients, administrators were also scrambling to find enough clinicians to provide care. Consequently, many health care providers needed to be reassigned.
The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics faced these challenges as well. As the hospital s capacity was stretched, many of its specialized care providers were reassigned to help in the areas most heavily impacted by the surge of COVID-19 patients, particularly the hospital’s intensive care units (ICUs).
The moment was not expected. But neither was it difficult to interpret.
A week ago, the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered across the country, including in Iowa. It was a seminal moment in the ninth month of the ongoing pandemic.
The #COVID19 vaccine is being administered today in Iowa. Here, the @gazettedotcom s @VanessaMiller12 documents the first shot. https://t.co/UaNBhLqsOO socially distance/wear a mask (@ErinDMurphy) December 14, 2020
The first shot in Iowa was documented by a few journalists, including Vanessa Miller and Andy Abeyta of The Gazette. At 9:39 a.m. Dec. 14, Miller tweeted a five-second video of David Conway, an emergency room nurse at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, receiving the historic shot.
IOWA CITY The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics which last week became the first place in Iowa to start inoculating its workers with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine expects its first shipment of about 1,500 doses of the Moderna brand of the vaccine this week, possibly Tuesday.
As of Monday, 1,143 front-line UIHC employees working directly with patients including those with COVID-19 had received a first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, which arrived Dec. 14.
“There have been no severe reactions,” according to UIHC spokeswoman Jennifer Brown, who confirmed Pfizer vaccinations will continue this week possibly extending beyond the first tier of front line workers to a second-priority group of support staff on the main campus.