Jay is rated ‘blue’ again

The positivity rate went down while overall cases went up.

Still, the county was in the blue again.

Jay County was rated “blue” (low risk) for the fifth consecutive week Wednesday as Indiana State Department of Health released its update on coronavirus metrics.

The county’s cases per 100,000 residents went up for the second week in a row, coming in at 68. The number was 48 last week and had been as low as 24 in the March 3 update.

The local positivity rate dropped to 2.42% from 2.7% last week.

Adams, Wells and Blackford counties all moved back to “yellow” (moderate risk) after being blue last week. Randolph and Delaware counties were blue again.

The state map became slightly more blue this week as 65 counties were rated blue, up from 61 last week. The remaining 27 counties were yellow. None were rated “orange” (high risk) or “red” (severe).

Jay County has had 26 cases of COVID-19 confirmed this month.

That’s an average of 1.63 per day, down from 2.04 in February. The county’s high was 22.8 cases per day in November.

Indiana State Department of Health on Tuesday announced that vaccination appointments are now available to Hoosiers 45 and older. They were previously available to those 50 and older.

Jay County continues to have vaccination clinics available at the health department, IU Health Jay and Walmart. The vaccination at the health department runs from 11:15 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays as well as 8:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. Saturdays, and the clinic at the hospital has appointments from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Appointments can be made by visiting ourshot.in.gov or calling the state’s 2-1-1 telephone assistance service.

As of Tuesday, nearly 3,800 first doses of coronavirus vaccine had been administered in Jay County with 2,346 individuals fully vaccinated.

Statewide, more than 1.3 million Hoosiers have received their first dose of vaccine.