Several nearby counties have moved into the red metric according to the Wednesday update from the Indiana State Department of Health.
Elkhart, Whitley and Allen Counties all moved into the red as both their weekly cases per 100,000 residents and seven day positivity rates have moved past thresholds to give them the worst rating a county can receive.
Weekly cases remain high for Kosciusko, Marshall, Fulton, Wabash and Noble Counties, but the seven day positivity rates remain below 15 percent, keeping them in the orange metric. Kosciusko County’s weekly cases per 100,000 residents was at 874 in the newest update, while the positivity rate was around 13.5 percent.
The county metric map is updated every Wednesday. You can see the latest here.
Indiana health leaders warn COVID-19 risking hospital care
State health and hospital leaders are warning that Indiana could be facing months more of the surging coronavirus infections that have already started to overwhelm hospitals.
Hospital executives said Wednesday that they are postponing outpatient surgeries and screenings so staffers can be reassigned to handle the steep increase in coronavirus patients. An IU Health official says the challenge could continue for months.
The state has seen a 60% increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations in just two weeks and nearly a quarter of Indiana’s counties are listed in the highest-risk category of coronavirus spread. Indiana has recorded 322 virus-related deaths in the past week alone.
