After just a week ago when 73 of Indiana’s counties were labeled red on the state’s coronavirus dashboard, many are trying to edge back down in the latest weekly update of county metrics.
Wednesday’s new data showed only 34 counties in red, including nearby Whitley County. Many others, including Kosciusko County, where shown as orange in the latest map, but remain in a red status for at least another week. This is because counties must remain below red parameters for two consecutive weeks before officially dropping from their current rating.
The latest shows Kosciusko County’s positivity rate dropped to 13.8 percent, while the weekly cases per 100,000 residents is 324. Both of those figures are down from last week, when the positivity rate was nearing 21 percent and cases were near 800. You can see the latest update from the state at coronavirus.in.gov.
TESTING SLOWING DOWN, LOCAL OFFICIALS STILL URGE VACCINE
As the vaccine has been rolling out both locally and nationwide, testing has been slowing down. Kurt Carlson from the Bowen Center said their site has been averaging around 500 tests per week, compared to the 1,700 per week that they were seeing within the first couple of months of the site opening.
Carlson, along with Kosciusko County Health Officer Dr. Bill Remington spoke during Wednesday’s bi-weekly COVID press conference. Remington said that while things have been improving, the county continues to see “robust” case counts and positivity rates.
Remington reminded the public about the state’s website to get signed up for the COVID vaccine, which is ourshot.in.gov. He said sites in Kosciusko County have been filling up quickly, and if local sites are full, check the zip codes of other nearby sites to see if you can get slotted in at another place that isn’t too far away.
If you have issues with the website, you can also call the state’s vaccine hotline at 2-1-1.
