DES MOINES, Iowa - Iowa has now surpassed the milestone of 20,000 COVID-19 cases, as 20,012 are reported by the state public health department as of Wednesday at 10 a.m. There are also a total of 564 deaths.
The new numbers represent 60 additional cases and 6 more deaths.
There have been 11,604 recoveries from the virus for a recovery rate of 58 percent, up from 57 percent Tuesday.
The state is reporting COVID-19 outbreaks at 42 long term care centers, up from 41 Tuesday. Deaths of patients from those centers total , accounting for 47 percent of the state's deaths.
The state does not report outbreaks at meatpacking plants, which are another hot spot for the virus. It does record the number of infected residents per 100,000 population. Buena Vista County in northwest Iowa has the highest concentration of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 - 4,277 - an increase from 4,207 Tuesday. There are nearly 600 positive cases at a Tyson meatpacking plant in Buena Vista County.
The state has conducted 19,450 Serology tests to find anti-bodies in people who have contracted and recovered for COVID-19. There have been 1,876 positive Serology tests, accounting for 10 percent of those tests.
Overall, COVID-19 case counts have flattened since May 6th, and have slowly tapered off.
The numbers for the state only represent COVID-19 figures compiled by the Iowa Department of Public Health. Unreported cases and deaths could make the actual figures different.