Jay remains orange in state COVID-19 metrics

The number of new cases of COVID-19 has come down since a spike during the first half of the month, but the positivity rate continued to rise.

The result was that the county stayed in the second-highest risk level in the state’s metrics.

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

The county posted a seven-day positivity rate of 13.75%, up four percentage points from last week. The rate had been as low as 1.87% in March.

Its cases per 100,000 residents dipped to 137 this week, down from 229 last week. Still, the number is significantly higher than the low point of 23 two months ago.

Jay County recorded 86 new cases of COVID-19 through the first 18 days of May, already surpassing the full-month totals for February, March and April. (There were 215 new cases of the disease in January.)

The local spike in cases came from May 5 through 8, with 40 reported in that four-day span. The average has dropped to 3.3 cases per day in the 10 days since then.

Jay County was one of just three in Indiana to be rated orange, joining Jasper and Lawrence counties. Forty-one counties, including Delaware, were rated “yellow” (moderate risk) and the remaining 48, including Adams, Wells, Blackford and Randolph, were rated “blue” (low risk).