First death

Jay County has its first confirmed death from COVID-19.

Indiana State Department of Health confirmed the death in its update Wednesday.

This morning, Jay County Health Department reported it had reached 200 cases of COVID-19.

Heath Butz, administrator and environmentalist for Jay County Health Department, said Wednesday afternoon the county department waits for a death certificate to make such a confirmation. The county had not received documentation at that time, but Butz added the state had confirmed the county’s first death from the disease caused by coronavirus.

While neither state nor local health departments release names related to COVID-19 data, the obituary for Roger Bowen of Greene Township that ran in Wednesday’s newspaper indicated COVID-19 as his cause of death. Bowen died Monday at IU Health Jay.

“Obviously, we’re all saddened by our first loss, our first death, associated with COVID,” said Butz. “Sympathies to the family of the individual.”

Jay County had been one of seven counties in the state that had not yet experienced a death from COVID-19. The six that remain without a death are Benton, Vermillion, Martin, Crawford, Switzerland and Union counties.

Among the counties adjacent to Jay County, Delaware has the highest COVID-19 death total at 62. It is followed by Darke (44), Mercer (19), Randolph (eight), Wells (four), Blackford (three) and Adams (three) counties.

Saying he had dreaded the day Jay County would experience its first death from the disease, Butz again emphasized the importance of social distancing, mask-wearing and hand hygiene as ways to help slow its spread.

“They all help to mitigate the risk,” said Butz. “They help to slow the spread of the virus. Hopefully we can help prevent further deaths and prevent further cases by doing those measures.”

As of early Wednesday afternoon, Jay County Health Department had confirmed 194 cases of COVID-19. By this morning, the number was 200.

Jay County reached the 50-case mark on May 28 and the 100-case mark Aug. 15. It has continued to see its rate of new cases go up, with 2.02 per day since mid-August.

The county was at 1.35 cases per day from July 28 through Aug. 15. It had been at 0.63 cases per day for the first two-and-a-half months of the pandemic.

The county’s seven-day positivity rate for unique individuals is 6.2%.

“We’ve seen a steady flow over the last month of cases that have been coming in,” said Butz, adding that the cases seem to be from general community spread and have not been tied to a specific event. “We had a little more ebb and flow early on. We’ve seen cases fairly consistently daily in Jay County for about the last month.”

Jay County’s total of 194 cases is second-lowest in the region behind Blackford County (124). Other area county case totals are as follows: Delaware (2,041), Mercer (1,139), Darke (811), Adams (283), Wells (273) and Randolph (230).

Butz also pointed out that Jay County has had an increase in cases involving older adults. He recommended that those individuals especially adhere to precautions, stay home when possible and get tested if they are feeling ill.

“We’ve seen an uptick in the number of cases in people over the age of 65,” said Butz. “That’s concerning, as those people are more predisposed for a more severe version of COVID-19.”

Coronavirus is spread through respiratory droplets from sneezes and coughs, close personal contact and touching something with the virus on it and then touching the mouth, nose or eyes before washing hands. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines encourage frequent hand washing, avoiding touching the face with unwashed hands, avoiding close contact with those who are sick, covering coughs and sneezes with a facial tissue and wearing a mask in public.

For most, COVID-19 symptoms are mild to moderate, including fever, cough and shortness of breath that clear up in two to three weeks. Other symptoms may include chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat and loss of taste or smell. Older adults and those with pre-existing health problems are susceptible to more severe illnesses.