Jay County shifts to orange

Two days before Christmas, the “red” designation is gone.

Jay County shifted to “orange” (high risk for spread of coronavirus) in Indiana State Department of Health’s weekly update of its county metrics Wednesday.

The county had first moved into red (severe risk) on Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving. It remained there for the next four weeks, consistently posting numbers well above the thresholds of 200 weekly cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents and a 15% positivity rate.

Jay County remained above the weekly cases threshold this week with 366 per 100,000 residents. But its positivity rate dipped to 13.6% for an average score of 2.5 on a three-point scale for an orange rating. (The county metrics are based on Sunday numbers, with changes announced on Wednesdays.)

It was one of 68 counties in the state that came in with an orange rating this week. The other 24 were red.

“The numbers have been dropping locally here in Jay County and in the state as far as the cases per 100,000 and the positivity … which is a good thing,” said Jay County Health Department environmentalist and administrator Heath Butz. “I’m happy to see that. Hopefully we can maintain that trend.”

That said, the numbers remain high.

Jay County’s average cases per day have dropped to 9.14 over the last seven days and 16 in December, down from 22.8 during November. But its 353 cases of COVID-19 in December are second during the pandemic only to the 684 it recorded last month. (The next highest was 221 in October.)

The county still has the highest positivity rate in the area at 13.7% Wednesday, ahead of Wells County (13.1 percent).

“We still have a lot of cases throughout the state of Indiana and in Jay County,” said Butz. “While the cases have dropped, they’re still high. There are still a lot of cases in our community and surrounding. We still need to do our diligence …”

That diligence includes wearing a mask, social distancing, washing hands and avoiding large gatherings.

Butz noted that those measures are especially important to keep in mind during the Christmas and New Year’s Day holidays.

“The safest thing you can do is have Christmas with your immediate household,” he added. “If you’re going to do anything beyond that, try to come up with a modified way of doing it that’s going to reduce risk where you can spread people out.”

State officials had shared much the same message during a press conference Tuesday, with Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb referring to an “abnormally” high rate of virus spread.

State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box said the recent decline in hospitalizations was encouraging but remained “much higher than we would be comfortable with going forward.”

“We still need to keep our guard up, especially with the upcoming holidays,” she said. “When you get into gatherings that you’re more likely to let your guard down at, there’s risk there that you could get COVID.”

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.