Iowa news
In Iowa, EMS is not legally required to show up. What happens when no one does?
Senate File 615, signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds in June 2021, provides the framework for counties to deem EMS service “essential.” It allows them to create a referendum to raise property taxes to fund EMS. A step in the right direction, but money and an essential service are not the complete answers to the problem. (KCCI)
More than 2,800 Iowans’ lives could have been saved with COVID-19 vaccinations
One tragic fact about the nearly 1 million people who have died of COVID-19 in the U.S. is that a huge share of them didn’t have to. In Iowa, 2,879 people who died could have survived if everyone in the state had gotten vaccinated. In Texas, that number is 29,773, and in Washington, D.C., it’s just 164. Nationally it’s nearly 319,000, according a new estimate. These figures come from an analysis by researchers at Brown University and Microsoft AI Health that estimates the portion of vaccine-preventable deaths in each state since COVID-19 vaccines became available at the start of 2021. (Iowa Public Radio)
Iowa’s COVID-19 case counts triple in past three weeks
The number of new COVID-19 cases in Iowa has nearly tripled in the past three weeks, and Linn and Johnson counties are once more considered to be “high transmission” counties by federal health authorities. Last Wednesday, the state reported 3,172 new coronavirus cases in the past seven days, compared to the 1,063 new cases reported in a seven-day period three weeks ago. Last week’s total was up from the 2,114 new cases reported the week before and the 1,716 cases reported two weeks before, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. (The Gazette)
National news
Former nurse gets probation for fatal drug error
RaDonda Vaught, a former nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, will serve three years of probation for criminally negligent homicide and felony abuse stemming from a medicine error that killed a patient in 2017. The rare criminal prosecution of a health care worker has garnered nationwide attention. Nursing advocates say the conviction will result in fewer clinicians coming forward when they make mistakes, for fear of criminal punishment. (Modern Healthcare)
Why won’t more older Americans get their COVID-19 booster?
Even as top U.S. health officials say it’s time America learns to live with the coronavirus, a chorus of leading researchers say faulty messaging on booster shots has left millions of older people at serious risk. Approximately 1 in 3 Americans 65 and older who completed their initial vaccination round still have not received a first booster shot, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The numbers have dismayed researchers, who note this age group continues to be at the highest risk for serious illness and death from COVID-19. (Modern Healthcare)
Making up 1 million deaths: Where COVID-19 killed
More than 1 million lives have been lost to COVID-19 in the United States. Approximately 346,000 lives were lost in the pandemic’s first year. And even with widespread availability of vaccinations in 2021, an additional 482,000 lives were lost that year, with another 171,000 deaths occurring this year through early May. The country has lost a significant portion of its elderly population, as well as health care workers, first responders and essential workers. (NBC News)