COVID-19 Update
March 19, 2021

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.

Editor’s Note

Happy Friday to our readers! With the Governor’s announcement this week that starting April 5, all Iowan’s will be able to receive their COVID-19 vaccine, I think it’s safe to finally say that for purposes of this update, it is truly a happy day.

This newsletter began March 23, 2021. For nearly a year, you have received this daily report with information as it changed throughout the course of the pandemic, at the state and national level-- covering everything from Governor’s press conferences, to summaries of COVID-19 federal relief packages, to CDC guidance and vaccine and drug development tracking, to daily stats on the spread of the virus.

As we look at today’s Iowa and National statistics, and look at how far we’ve come, from the initial fear and the unknown, lockdowns, masks, hand sanitizer, and social distancing, to a massive testing upscaling, our spike in November, and now three vaccines approved in the US, and vaccine deployment-- all within a year-- it is good to reflect on how far we’ve come.

It is also good to mourn those we’ve lost. As of today, 5,672 Iowans have lost their lives to COVID-19, along with tens of thousands more around the world.

This pandemic has been both global and local. Through this newsletter, we have been able to highlight the amazing work against the virus by our own members, directly fighting COVID-19 and helping their communities. I have never been prouder of our membership than during this year, or honored to be the Executive Director of IowaBio.

Producing this newsletter each morning has been a journey of its own. When we began it, I wasn’t sure that this would cut through the clutter in people’s inboxes, or provide value. I have found from notes directly from many of you, that it has, and I am humbly happy to have found a unique way to provide value to our members, during a time when we couldn’t all come together in person.

Next week will be the last full week of this COVID-19 Update. Going forward, it will shift to an as-needed basis, when major new COVID-19 news needs to be distributed.

Finally, I want to say thank you for being on this day-by-day journey with us over this year. I look forward to seeing you in person soon!

Sincerely,
Jessica

Key Statistics

Iowa
The overall number of vaccines administered is 1,181,990 an increase of 41,440 since Tuesday, with 318,902 receiving their first dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine and 415,743 receiving their second dose. 31,602 have received the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

To find vaccine providers in your county, click here or scroll to the bottom of the vaccine dashboard. If you need a vaccine appointment, vaccinate.iowa.gov has launched to help connect Iowans eligible for the vaccine with providers. Iowans 65 and older who have not yet gotten an appointment can call 211 for assistance. For vaccine eligibility information and timelines click here. For new vaccine allocation data overall and by county, click here.

Currently, on the state’s coronavirus dashboard  372,868 positive tests were reported, up 696 from our update yesterday morning, with a total of 4,303,965 tests.
 
6 additional deaths were reported since our last update, bringing the total to 5,672 deaths.
 
The total 14 day rolling average positivity rate is 3.9% the past 7-day average is 3.9%.
 
The latest on hospitalizations, can be found here. There are currently 189 hospitalized patients—up 18 since yesterday-- with 44 in the ICU, and 45 admitted in the last 24 hours.

Today, 0 long-term care facilities are in outbreak status.
 
US
Total Cases 29,431,658
Total Deaths 535,217
Total Vaccination Doses Administered 115,730,008
 
World
Total Cases 121,910,170
Total Deaths 2,693,359
 
BIO Pipeline Tracker
852 Unique compounds in development
212 vaccines
244 antivirals
396 treatments