Iowa sees one-day surge of 744 confirmed coronavirus cases

New positive coronavirus cases in Iowa jumped Friday by the highest one-day increase since May as state health department data also reflects increasing hospitalizations and patients in intensive care.

Known positive cases increased by 744 in the last 24 hours as of Friday morning to 33,756. It’s the highest one-day jump since May 26 when state data showed an increase of 795 new positive cases. The number of deaths rose Friday by three to 742.

While some of the increase in new cases may be a result of increased testing, the data also shows the state’s percentage of positive cases has risen to 9.3%, the highest level since late May.

Of the more than 360,000 Iowans tested, more than 326,000 received negative results, state data shows.

Still, hospitalizations and the number of people in intensive care have gradually increased since early July with 169 patients with COVID-19 in a hospital as of Friday. That’s still considerably lower than the peak of more than 400 people hospitalized in May.

As of Friday, there were 54 people in an ICU unit. That shows an increase but the numbers remain significantly lower than the peak of over 160 in May.