By Liz Shepherd
InkFreeNews

The color-coded county metrics map on the IDH website shows all but three counties in the “blue” or “yellow” categories. Color-coded county metrics are based on each county’s seven-day positivity rate and the number of newly reported weekly cases per 100,000 residents. Yellow counties are categorized as such when they have a seven-day positivity rate between 5% and 9.9% and/or 10 to 99 new weekly cases per 100,000 residents. Source: Indiana Department of Health

WARSAW — Kosciusko County can now follow “blue” COVID-19 guidelines, as the county’s positivity rate and case numbers have once again decreased.

The county has a 2.7% positivity rate and has had 117 COVID-19 deaths and 9,481 positive cases.

Marshall County is now in the “yellow” category on the Indiana Department of Health’s two-metric map, with a 3.5% positivity rate. Marshall’s weekly COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents is at 144. If the county stays on this path for another week, Marshall can follow “yellow” guidelines. However, the county must continue following “orange” guidelines for one more week.

Elkhart County is also now in “yellow” on the IDH two-metric map, with a 7.9% positivity rate. If the county stays on this path for another week, Elkhart can follow “yellow” guidelines. However, the county must continue following “orange” guidelines for one more week.

Indiana Department of Health relies on a color-coded county map that measures percent positivity and new cases per 100,000 residents. The baseline for red is 15%.

The advisory level is used to establish guidelines for counties regarding restrictions on gatherings.

More than 21,500 people in Kosciusko County have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19. This is up from 19,600 reported last week. An estimated 22,477 people in Kosciusko County have been administered their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

More than 2,346,000 Hoosiers are considered to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19. According to statewide demographics, 56% of those fully vaccinated are individuals who are 55 and older. About 54% of people fully vaccinated are female.

Statewide, the IDH website shows the number of COVID-19 deaths in Indiana rose to 13,101.

The total positive number of reported COVID-19 cases in Indiana is now at 737,282. More than 10,230,000 COVID-19 tests have been administered to Hoosiers.

Locally, Fulton County has 1,964 positive cases, Wabash County has 3,556 positive cases, and Whitley County has 3,994 positive cases. Noble County has 5,674 positive cases, Marshall County has 6,125 positive cases, and Elkhart County has 28,907.

In other northern Indiana counties, Lake County has 54,367 positive cases; Allen County has 41,042 positive cases; and St. Joseph County has 36,408 positive cases.

According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, more than 587,000 people in the United States have died due to COVID-19.