The Linn County Board of Health is calling for immediate action to address racism as a public health crisis. The board outlined seven actions in a position statement published on Thursday, including establishing an Office of Minority Health at Linn County Public Health; urging businesses to incorporate implicit bias training and offer educational training to […]
Linn County Public Health
Posted inCommunity/News
‘There is a false sense of security:’ Linn County officials urge mask-wearing to slow community spread
“Unfortunately, we are back to report some disheartening news about the virus spread in our community, particularly over the last 14 days,” Supervisor Ben Rogers said as he began Wednesday’s Linn County Public Health press conference. The last LCPH press conference was more than a month ago on May 20. Through the end of May […]
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Long-term care facilities are recovering from COVID-19 outbreaks as cases rise in Linn County
Nearly all of Linn County’s long-term care facilities that have had outbreaks of COVID-19 are now considered recovered. Linn Manor Care Center in Marion, the fifth facility to recover, has had no new cases for two consecutive incubation periods, or 28 days, Linn County Public Health announced on Friday. A total of 38 residents and […]
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Two more long-term care facilities in Linn County with COVID-19 outbreaks are now considered recovered
Two more long-term care facilities in Linn County have recovered from outbreaks of COVID-19, Linn County Public Health announced on Friday. Living Center West and ManorCare Health Services, both in Cedar Rapids, have had no new cases for two consecutive incubation periods, or 28 days. Living Center West had 81 residents and staff test positive […]
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Linn County moves to second phase of reopening, additional long-term care outbreak reported in the county
Linn County has met all the necessary criteria to move onto phase two of the county’s phased reopening approach, Linn County Public Health said on Wednesday. LCPH released a phased reopening approach on May 14, a day before various businesses were allowed to reopen at 50 percent capacity. LCPH began monitoring 10 disease and resource […]
Posted inCOVID-19
Cottage Grove Place in Cedar Rapids has recovered from COVID-19 outbreak
A second long-term care facility in Linn County has recovered from its outbreak of COVID-19, Linn County Public Health announced on Monday. Cottage Grove Place in Cedar Rapids has had no new cases confirmed in the last 28 days, or two consecutive incubation periods. The facility’s nursing center had its first confirmed cases of the […]
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Confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Linn County are slowing down but public health is watching for a possible surge
The number of newly reported confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Linn County has decreased over the past few weeks, but officials are preparing for a possible second wave of the virus. As of 9 a.m. on Thursday, Linn County Public Health was reporting 972 confirmed cases. The data also shows that the total number of […]
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Heritage Specialty Care in Cedar Rapids has recovered from COVID-19 outbreak, according to Linn County Public Health
Heritage Specialty Care, a long-term care facility in Cedar Rapids, has recovered from an outbreak of COVID-19, Linn County Public Health announced on Thursday. The department defines “recovery” as no new cases for 28 consecutive days, which is two incubation periods. Heritage was the first long-term care facility in Linn County to experience an outbreak […]
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Linn County supervisors extend telework policy for county employees, discuss employee testing and Test Iowa
As the state continues to reopen, Linn County officials are thinking about ways to protect their employees, including extending telework policies and looking into testing county employees for COVID-19. Most county buildings are closed to the general public through June 15. Earlier this month, the Board of Supervisors discussed installing Plexiglas barriers and signs on […]
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Gov. Reynolds opens up Test Iowa testing to all, criticizes reporters for focusing too much on testing
Gov. Kim Reynolds started her press conference on Thursday by boasting about the amount of COVID-19 testing being done in Iowa, and announcing the Test Iowa program will soon begin testing anyone who wants a test. Before the press conference was over, she was complaining that reporters are too “hung up on testing.” Reynolds also […]
Posted inCOVID-19
Cedar Rapids doctor is ‘cautiously optimistic’ about the low number of COVID-19 patients at Mercy; Test Iowa’s Linn County site continues to underperform
Dr. Tony Myers of Mercy Medical Center said he is “cautiously optimistic” about the lower number of COVID-19 patients in the Cedar Rapids hospital. During Wednesday’s Linn County Public Health press conference, Myers said there are four patients with COVID-19 in the intensive care unit and two of them are on ventilators. During the last […]
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Reynolds responds to Trump’s plan to end the National Guard’s pandemic work, while Iowa’s updated COVID-19 site reports questionable data
The changes to the Iowa Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 information site announced on Monday are now complete. New graphs and charts have been added, and according to the department, case numbers are now being updated in real time, instead of once a day. Introducing the revamped site at her press conference on Tuesday, Gov. […]
