Washington County PH director predicts spike in cases for county

WASHINGTON - Washington County will likely see an increase in COVID-19 cases within the next couple of days due to the outbreak linked to the Tyson Meat Plant in Columbus Junction, according to Washington County Public Health Director Danielle Pettit-Majewski.

'I am expecting anywhere between 40-100 new cases from this testing in the next couple of days,” she said during a board of health meeting Thursday.

Gov. Reynolds announced in a news conference Thursday 900 test kits would be given to Tyson to distribute to workers. Pettit-Majewski anticipated the number rising quickly due to the number of workers and also because the spread between family members.

'Every time we have a confirmed case, we do a follow up and do a tracing of all their household contacts,” she said, explaining why the number can seem to double over night. 'Some of these people have a household contact. For example they might have nine people in their household. If all nine of them are sick, every single person is entered and it's reflected in this data.”

Tests are not being done at the state hygienic lab, but before that, were being tested in Virginia, delaying the result time by more than a week, she said.

The lab will soon be doing serology testing, she said, which is a blood test that allows for doctors to determine if an individual has already been exposed to the virus. The peak for those in Iowa infected with the virus is expected to be in three weeks with the peak for deaths the following.

'I think we're going to be in this until the end of May. that's my best guess with what the data shows,” she said.