An order in Clay County requiring that people wear masks in public places when social distancing cannot be maintained has been lifted.

The order was approved by the board of supervisors in December following a recommendation from the board of health and later. It stated that once the 14-day positivity rate was under 5 percent for two consecutive Sundays, the mask resolution would be lifted. As of Monday, the Clay County 14-day positivity rate for COVID-19 was 1.7 percent.

The order will be reinstated if the 14-day positivity rate reaches 10 percent. Public health officials are reminding citizens that positivity rates have fluctuated throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and emphasize that mitigation precautions remain important.

Locally, Clay County's seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate Wednesday morning was up from 2 percent the previous week to 3 percent. O'Brien County's positivity rate was up from 3 percent to 6 percent over that same time period.

Coronavirus-related deaths were unchanged in O'Brien and Clay counties at 58 and 25, respectively. Statewide, there have been 5,498 fatalities, up from 5,400 last week.

Confirmed infections since the pandemic began tallied 1,953 in O'Brien County, 1,936 in Clay County and 364,778 statewide. Recoveries in that same order were 1,686, 1,753 and 317,745.

As of Sunday, there were 197 coronavirus-related hospitalizations in Iowa, down from 222 the previous week. One hospitalization was reported in O'Brien County while Clay County had zero.