May 13, 2021 at 5:17 p.m.

Jay back to orange

County case numbers and positivity rate continue to rise

By RAY COONEY
President, editor and publisher

Two weeks ago, Jay County was at the lowest risk level for the spread of coronavirus.

Now, it’s at the second-highest.

Jay County was rated “orange” (high risk for the spread of coronavirus) in Indiana State Department of Health’s update Wednesday.

It was the first time the county has been orange since Jan. 26. It had been rated “blue” (low risk) or “yellow” (moderate risk) for 14 consecutive weeks.

Jay County showed sizable increases in both metrics the state measures to assess the risk level. Its cases per 100,000 residents jumped to 229, up from 137 the previous week. It had been as low as 23 in early March.

The county’s seven-day positivity rate nearly doubled, hitting 9.75% after being at 4.98% last week. It had been as low as 1.87% in March. (County ratings are updated weekly on Wednesday based on Sunday’s numbers. As of Wednesday, the rate had climbed to 13%.)

Jay County has seen a spike in COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks, including 40 new cases in just a four-day span from May 5 through 8. The county has already totaled 62 cases through the first 11 days of May, surpassing its total for February (57) and March (52). There were 68 cases in April.

The county is averaging 6.2 new cases per day this month, up from 2.27 last month and the low of 1.67 in March.

Indiana had six counties rated orange this week as compared to eight last week. But its number of yellow counties, including Delaware, went up to 45 from 37 last week. The remaining 41 counties, including Randolph, Blackford, Wells and Adams, were blue.


State officials also opened the Pfizer vaccine, which is available at IU Health Jay, to Hoosiers 12 and older. (It had previously only been approved for those 16 and older).

“We all want that normalcy, and the best way to get there is to increase the number of people who are fully vaccinated,” said state health department’s chief medical officer Dr. Lindsay Weaver.

Vaccination clinics continue to be open at Jay County Health Department and IU Health Jay. Appointments can be made online at ourshot.in.gov or by calling the state’s 2-1-1 telephone assistance service. The health department has also opened its vaccination clinic to walk-ins from noon to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

As of Wednesday, 10,695 doses of coronavirus vaccine had been administered in Jay County. So far, 5,185 individuals have been fully vaccinated.

About 4.66 million doses have been administered statewide with nearly 2.2 million fully vaccinated.

During a press conference Wednesday, state officials noted that 99.3% of Indiana coronavirus cases are in those who are not vaccinated. The state ranks 41st out of 50 states in terms of the percentage of the population that has been fully vaccinated.

“We’re working on those who have been on the fence or who remain hesitant, and we’re doing that one shot at a time,” state health commissioner Dr. Kristina Box said. “We have made incredible progress as a state and our fight against this pandemic, but we still have a journey ahead of us and we don’t want to give up any ground.”

 
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