IowaBio COVID-19 Update

IowaBio wants to provide our members useful information during the COVID-19 pandemic. This newsletter compiles information on state, federal and industry action to combat the virus and its impacts.

If your company is helping respond to COVID-19, IowaBio wants to know about it. Please, send any information about what your biotechnology company or organization is doing to help, to Jessica Hyland at Jessica@iowabio.org.

If IowaBio can assist you in getting information out, connecting with public officials, or support your company in another way, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Past IowaBio COVID-19 Update newsletters are now available at www.iowabio.org/COVID19 and can be found under the Industry News tab on the IowaBio website.

COVID-19 Vaccine Update

Friday IowaBio member Pfizer’s vaccine became the first vaccine to prevent COVID-19 approved by the FDA for an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for those 16 and older, and the vaccine began shipping out across the country on Sunday morning. Iowa will first begin vaccinating health care workers and long-term care workers and residents when it receives the vaccine.

BIO partnered with the NIH and CDC to create covidvaccinefacts.org, a website with vaccine development and safety information that can be downloaded, rebranded and reshared via social media or other methods. Click here for the easily sharable information.

Key Statistics

Iowa
Currently, IDPH has reported on the state’s coronavirus dashboard, 256,896 Iowans have tested positive, up 3,829 from our update Friday morning, with a total of 1,284,887 tested. 93 additional deaths were reported since our last update, bringing the total to 3,213 deaths. Now 190,219 Iowans have recovered. The total 14 day rolling average positivity rate is 15.1% the past 7-day average is 11.1%. The latest on hospitalizations, including how many patients have been admitted in the last 24 hours can be found here. There are currently 764 hospitalized patients.

School district statistics including positivity rates by county can be found here. According to guidance issued by the Iowa Department of Education, schools may petition to go to hybrid or online learning with less than 50 percent in-person instruction when the per county percentage positivity rates are above 15 percent in a county on average over the past 14 days (rolling average) AND 10% absenteeism among students is expected for in-person learning. School district waiver requests and whether they are granted or denied are listed here.

Currently 56 (of 99) counties are above a 15 percent positivity rate over the past 14 days. Click here to search county data for today.

US
Total Cases 15,932,116
Total Deaths 296,818

World
Total Cases 72,352,258
Total Deaths 1,614,159

BIO Pipeline Tracker
786 Unique compounds in development
194 vaccines
221 antivirals
371 treatments