Jay County remains in the red

Jay County is red again.

For the third consecutive week, Indiana State Department of Health’s county metrics released Wednesday showed Jay County as being “red,” indicating a severe risk for the spread of coronavirus.

Also Wednesday, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb announced new rules including that gatherings in red counties will be limited to 25 attendees.

The county metrics are based on Sunday’s numbers, with Jay County recording 885 weekly cases per 100,000 residents and a positivity rate of 18.7%. Those were both well over the thresholds for the red rating of 200 weekly cases per 100,000 and a 15% positivity rate.

“We have a significant amount of virus spread going on in the community,” said Heath Butz of Jay County Health Department.

Thirty-six of the state’s 92 counties were in the red category, with all other counties at orange. Other counties at the highest level of risk included Wells and Randolph.

Jay County had 25 new cases of coronavirus in Wednesday’s report, which covers cases reported Tuesday, to bring its pandemic total to 1,282. That’s an average of 22.3 cases per day, just slightly under the November average of 22.8.

At 21.5%, Jay County had the fifth-highest seven-day positivity rate in the state Wednesday. It trailed only Parke (26.5%), Fountain (26.1%), Whitley (25.9 percent) and Warren (21.8%) counties. In the area, Randolph County had the next highest positivity rate at 17%. It was followed by Wells (16.8%), Adams (14.5%), Delaware (13.2%) and Blackford (11.3%) counties.

Over the course of the pandemic, Jay County is second-highest in cases per 100,000 residents at 6,273, trailing only Randolph County (6,333).

“Our hospitals, long-term care facilities, those people that are most at risk for the severe form of this illness … need our help as a community to help slow the spread of this virus,” said Butz. “That includes social distancing, wearing a mask, washing your hands, avoiding large groups, staying home when you’re sick, all those things we’ve been talking about since the onset of this. It will make a difference if we can do a better job as a community of adhering to those measures.”

Hospitals were a main area of concern for Holcomb in his weekly press conference Wednesday. He referred to the state as “on fire” with coronavirus spread.

Indiana’s hospitals are currently treating more than quadruple the number of COVID-19 patients than they were in September.

Holcomb reinstated limits on elective surgeries in order to take some of the stress off of hospitals.

“Our nurses and our doctors, understandably, are overwhelmed and beyond exhausted ... to go into one of the toughest environments that anyone in our state’s history has had to face on a day in, day out basis,” he said.

Holcomb also extended his statewide mask order.

And, in addition to the social gathering limit for red counties, attendance at extracurricular events for schools will be limited to participants and parents only.

State officials say the initial shipment of about 55,000 doses of the first coronavirus vaccine is expected to arrive next week, though the vaccine has not yet been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA could provide that approval at a meeting today, which would allow doses of the vaccine to ship as early as Friday. When it is available, initial doses will be shipped to hospitals in Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Munster, Jeffersonville and Evansville. The state’s plan calls for about 400,000 healthcare workers to be treated with the first wave of vaccines.

Butz said no specific event or location has been identified as a spreader of the virus in Jay County. But, he added, responses to contact tracing have also gone down.

“It’s getting harder to ascertain exactly where community spread is going because of lack of response to the contact tracing,” said Butz. “It’s a lot harder to identify a hot spot or a big spread event.”

Anticipation of the county’s initial shift to being at red sparked a decision to shift Jay County Junior-Senior High School students to virtual learning for the week of Nov. 30 through Dec. 4. They returned to in-person classes Monday.

Coronavirus is mainly spread through respiratory droplets or small particles from an infected person coughing, sneezing, talking or breathing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that it may be possible those particles and droplets remain suspended in the air for an unknown period of time and travel beyond 6 feet, especially indoors.

CDC guidelines encourage wearing a mask and avoiding close contact when around others and frequent hand washing and surface cleaning as ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The virus causes a range of symptoms, which can appear two to 14 days after exposure. Older adults and those with pre-existing health problems are susceptible to more severe illnesses.