Back to yellow

It’s back to yellow again.

Jay County continued its fluctuation between metric scores, moving back to “yellow” (moderate risk for the spread of coronavirus) in the metrics Indiana State Department of Health update Wednesday.

Also Wednesday, Indiana State Department of Health announced that it is allowing schools to relax quarantine rules for students exposed to coronavirus.

Jay County has flipped back and forth between yellow and orange (high risk) over the past month and a half. It first moved to yellow on Dec. 30, then was orange for two weeks, shifted to yellow Jan. 20, went back to orange Jan. 26 and then moved back to yellow this week.

Heath Butz of Jay County Health Department over the last few weeks has pointed out that the county has been near the yellow/orange threshold and that just a few cases can make the difference.

For that reason, the state requires that a county must stay at a rating for consecutive weeks before changing its guidelines for gatherings and other related rules. Currently, venues in Jay County are allowed gatherings up to 25% capacity. If the county remains yellow next week, those limits could be increased. (Currently the only counties in Indiana that are eligible for lower restriction levels are neighboring Adams and Wells counties, along with Elkhart, Tippecanoe, Park, Sullivan and Monroe counties.)

The new school recommendations from the state say no quarantine is required with students and staff who were exposed to infection at school if they were at least 3 feet apart and wearing masks at all times. Schools can also shorten 14-day quarantines to seven days if the individual exposed has a negative nasal swab test at least five days after exposure.

Jay School Corporation, in consultation with Jay County Health Department, in November had laid out its own guidelines that allowed most students who were close contacts in a school setting to remain in school if they wore a mask and reported any changes in health to the school nurse. It also allowed excluded students to return to school if they provided a negative COVID-19 test that is seven days from the last exposure.

“Our concern was that too many kids were being excluded from school and we did not detect the evidence that warranted that,” said Jay Schools superintendent Jeremy Gulley on Wednesday. “What I’m seeing here is a move in the direction that we’ve already taken. And I do find it positive.”

He said the corporation’s goal has been to balance preventing the spread of COVID-19 with the educational needs of students.

“I think we have struck the right balance,” he said.

Randolph and Blackford counties joined Jay in shifting from orange to yellow this week. Delaware County remained at orange.

Statewide, 59 counties were orange and 29 were yellow. Only four — Whitley, Warren, Gibson and Switzerland counties — came in at red (severe risk).

Jay County’s cases per 100,000 residents went down this week, coming in at 190 after hitting 274 the previous week. It’s positivity rate dropped to 8.43%, down from 10.1% a week earlier.

Indiana on Monday made vaccination appointments available to Hoosiers 65 and older. (They had previously been available to those 70 and older.) Those interested in signing up can do so online at ourshot.in.gov or by calling the state’s 2-1-1 telephone assistance service.

Jay County currently has two coronavirus vaccination clinics — one at the health department and the other at IU Health Jay. They run on alternating days, with the hospital’s clinic from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and the health department’s clinic 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.

Clinics in adjacent counties are at Adams County Hospital, Adams County Health Department, Wells County Health Department, IU Health Blackford, Blackford County Health Department and Randolph County Health Department, as well as eight sites in Delaware County including IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital, Delaware County Health Department and several pharmacies.

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.