Doctors Warn Of Iowa’s Skyrocketing Coronavirus Cases
Dr. Naila Shereen spent the spring treating COVID-19 patients in New York City at the height of the pandemic. Now in Iowa, she says she's seeing the pattern repeat itself. WHO's Monica Madden reports.
(WHO) — The ear-splitting sirens that permeated New York City for months still echo in Dr. Naila Shereen’s head — noises she’s starting to hear again, this time in Iowa.
“All we heard was sirens. Ambulances after ambulances, and I’m starting to hear that in Iowa too now,” she says.
Shereen, an internal medicine physician, moved to Iowa in June to join her husband, who is also a physician, when numbers seemed to be stabilizing from her perspective.
Now, Iowa ranks third in the country for the most positive COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in the last seven days. Hospitalizations have continued skyrocketing by nearly 200 percent in the last month. Sunday saw the greatest single-day increase, with 1,392 Iowans in the hospital, causing alarm for health care workers.
On Saturday Iowa saw 25 new coronavirus-related deaths. Shereen said she equates that to about one death each hour, which was common during New York’s peak.
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