Kosciusko County has been moved into the red metric in the weekly update from the Indiana State Department of Health.
Kosciusko County Health Officer Dr. Bill Remington, along with Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer, County Commissioner Cary Groninger and Bowen Center CEO Kurt Carlson held an impromptu meeting Wednesday morning to discuss the changes.
Dr. Remington said that the changes are a “calculation reset” in Indianapolis, and said that cases have not been booming and the situation has not been worsening. He mentioned that case counts are down, but the number of deaths have been rising. With that, Remington said that should not catch people off-guard and that the basics should continue to be followed, such as wearing a mask, washing your hands and doing good on practicing social distancing when out in public.
RELATED: See the newest update from the state here
According to the latest update, Kosciusko County’s positivity rate is 16.38 percent, which is up, but the weekly cases per 100,000 residents went down to 348.
What the changes affect are social gatherings, which in the new metric, gatherings are to be 25 people or less, unless approved by the county health department. You can see the full list of details with explanations to the metrics here.
With school restarting next week following winter break, Remington was asked if there would be any changes. He said he does not anticipate any immediate changes, and still believes that schools should be open. Remington went on to say that the health department will continue to be in contact with each school district to discuss their plans heading into the new semester.
You can watch the full press conference from Wednesday morning here, which includes full remarks from all officials and media questions.
