By Liz Shepherd
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Kosciusko County’s COVID-19 positivity rate is now “blue” on the Indiana Department of Health’s two-metric score map and continues to remain in the “yellow” category for the advisory level map.

The color-coded county metrics map on the IDH website shows a majority of counties in the “yellow” category. 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 5 to 9.99% seven-day positivity rate and/or 10 to 99 new weekly cases per 100,000 residents. Source: Indiana Department of Health

The advisory level is used to establish guidelines for counties regarding restrictions on gatherings. Kosciusko County will continue following “yellow” guidelines but could change to “blue” next week if the county remains at a lower weekly two-metric score for two consecutive weeks.

The county’s positivity rate is 3.1%, according to the Indiana Department of Health dashboard. This is a decrease from a 4.6% positivity rate reported last week.

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

Whitley County continues to remain in the “orange” category on the two-metric map with a 10.2% positivity rate; this rate has increased since last week.

Fulton and Marshall Counties’ positivity rates have also moved the counties from “yellow” to “blue” on the two-metric score map.

Under Gov. Eric Holcomb’s pandemic requirements, social gatherings of any kind in orange counties are limited to 50 people.

Kosciusko County has had 107 COVID-19 deaths and 8,519 positive cases.

More than 3,500 people in Kosciusko County have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19. This is up from 2,200 reported last week.

An estimated 8,627 people in Kosciusko County have been administered their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. More than 482,000 Hoosiers are considered to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19. This is up from 356,000 reported last week.

A look at the number of people in each county that have received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

According to statewide demographics, more than 48% of those fully vaccinated are individuals who are 70 and older. 63% of people fully vaccinated are female.

Statewide, the IDH website shows the number of COVID-19 deaths in Indiana rose to 12,039.

The total positive number of reported COVID-19 cases in Indiana is now at 658,043. More than 7,856,000 COVID-19 tests have been administered to Hoosiers.

Locally, Fulton County has 1,774 positive cases, Wabash County has 3,295 positive cases, and Whitley County has 3,472 positive cases. Marshall County has 5,397 positive cases, Noble County has 5,075 positive cases and Elkhart County has 25,291.

In other northern Indiana counties, Lake County has 48,163 positive cases; Allen County has 35,614 positive cases; and St. Joseph County has 29,615 positive cases.

According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, more than 502,000 people in the United States have died due to COVID-19.