As Fort Dodge Senior High students stayed at home for a week of virtual learning, Webster County Public Health (WCPH) announced Monday that 109 new cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed over the last week, bringing the county’s caseload to 1,750.

In the last month, the county has surged 544 cases. On Sept. 19, the county’s total was 1,206.

Of those, 128 cases remain open under WCPH monitoring.

The cases fall into the following age categories:

• Children (age 0-17): 114.

• Adults (age 18-40): 785.

• Middle-aged adults (age 41-60): 545.

• Older adults (age 61-80): 241.

• Elderly adults (age 81+): 65.

In the last month, cases for children have nearly doubled from 62, elderly adult cases have more than doubled from 27, and middle-aged adults have seen a case surge of 47% from 372 cases.

Webster County’s death toll remains at 14.

The surge in cases comes as positivity rates, the proportion of those tested for the novel coronavirus who are positive, vary wildly around the state. A number of rural counties around the state, particularly in western Iowa, have surged to 20-30%.

Iowa ranked number 10 in the nation for the most cases per capita within the last seven days, according to New York Times coronavirus data.

Eight of the nine other states are in the upper Midwest and West. Three border Iowa: Nebraska, Wisconsin and South Dakota.