IOWA, NEBRASKA - The upper Midwest continues to make progress against the COVID-19 pandemic, including in Iowa and Nebraska.
Virus rates that were among the highest in the country in mid and late November have subsided, and hospitalizations and deaths are also down.
Iowa ranks 24th on the New York Times list of states where new cases are higher but going down, while Nebraska is 15th.
At one point in late November, North and South Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin were the top rankings states for new coronavirus cases.
Less than a third of Iowa counties now have positivity rates high enough for schools to hold online only classes, down from almost all counties in late November. Iowa also had a 6 percent spike in hospitalizations Sunday, but are still less than a third of what they were in November.
Nationally, new cases and deaths are on a 14-day downward trend, although states such as California and Tennessee are experiencing major spikes.
A decrease in testing during the Christmas and New Year's holiday period is expected to blur the country's data, according to the New York Times, with more typical reporting patterns expected to resume in January.
Iowa state run TestIowa sites closed early on Thursday, December 24, and stayed closed on Friday for the Christmas holiday, which likely contributed to a reduced number of people testing positive and smaller number of tests overall.