Pictured in blue are the percentages for each age range that are considered fully vaccinated for COVID-19. Information from the Indiana Department of Health.

By Liz Shepherd
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Statewide, COVID-19 cases are slowly increasing as vaccination rates decrease.

In a press conference on Friday, July 30, Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box said there’s roughly 4,000 to 6,000 new COVID-19 cases in the state each week. She said it was a “vast improvement” compared to the state’s peak at the end of 2020, but said it’s “not the direction we want to go.”

Box also noted that almost half of eligible Hoosiers still have not received a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Those numbers are reflected locally in Kosciusko County, as about 40% of the county’s population are considered to be fully vaccinated.

Even though hospitalizations are still far below the state’s peak and the number of deaths remain at their lowest levels, Box said an increase in the Delta variant of COVID-19 has led to an increase in testing.

According to an executive order signed by Governor Eric Holcomb, 98% of new COVID-19 cases are with unvaccinated people. The executive order signed on Thursday, July 29, extends the state’s public health emergency to Aug. 30.

Box also agreed that Hoosiers should follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new recommendations that were issued on Tuesday, July 27.

The CDC recommends that fully vaccinated people wear a mask in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission. Fully vaccinated people who have a known exposure to someone with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 should be tested three to five days after exposure, and wear a mask in public indoor settings for 14 days or until they receive a negative test result. CDC also recommends universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status.

“I know that everyone is tired of hearing this,” said Box. “But please follow the CDC’s recommendations and get your vaccine. What I hope is we all share a personal responsibility to do no harm to others.”

Breakthrough cases were also briefly discussed at the conference. These cases are instances where people test positive for COVID-19 after being vaccinated. State officials said breakthrough cases remain a very small portion of the fully vaccinated population. Out of the 2.9 million people who are fully vaccinated, about 3,700 COVID-19 cases amongst that population were reported. Fifty-six of those breakthrough cases resulted in deaths.

More than 25,800 people in Kosciusko County have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19. An estimated 25,243 people in Kosciusko County have been administered their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

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 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

More than 2,944,000 Hoosiers are considered to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19. According to statewide demographics, about 56% of those fully vaccinated are individuals who are 50 and older. About 53% of people fully vaccinated are female.

Kosciusko County recently reported one new COVID-19 death, which occurred on Saturday, July 24. This brings the county to 124 deaths and 9,810 positive cases.

Marshall County also recently reported one new COVID-19 death, which occurred on Monday, July 26. This brings the county to 117 deaths and 6,358 positive cases.

On the Indiana Department of Health’s two-metric and advisory level COVID-19 maps, Kosciusko County is back in the “yellow” category.

According to the IDH dashboard, the county’s positivity rate is 8%.

Elkhart County is also back in the “yellow” category on IDH’s two-metric and advisory level maps, with a 6.5% positivity rate.

Fulton County is now in the “blue” category on both the state’s two-metric and advisory level maps, with a 1.5% positivity rate.

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%.

Statewide, the IDH website shows the number of COVID-19 deaths in Indiana rose to 13,576.

The total positive number of reported COVID-19 cases in Indiana is now at 771,299. More than 11,225,000 COVID-19 tests have been administered to Hoosiers.

Locally, Fulton County has 2,095 positive cases, Wabash County has 3,716 positive cases, and Whitley County has 4,186 positive cases. Noble County has 6,035 positive cases and Elkhart County has 29,819.

In other northern Indiana counties, Lake County has 57,061 positive cases; Allen County has 43,193 positive cases; and St. Joseph County has 37,420 positive cases.

According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, more than 612,000 people in the United States have died due to COVID-19.

Vaccination Percentages by ZIP code

COVID-19 vaccination percentages by county ZIP code are available on the state’s management performance hub.

• 46508 (Burket) 50% of residents
• 46582 (Warsaw area) 47% of residents
• 46538 (Leesburg) 45% of residents
• 46567 (Syracuse) 43% of residents
• 46555 (North Webster) 42% of residents
• 46580 (Warsaw) 42% of residents
• 46962 (North Manchester area) 40% of residents
• 46506 (Bremen area) 40% of residents
• 46590 (Winona Lake) 37% of residents
• 46524 (Etna Green) 21% of residents

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Click here to check out the statewide ZIP code map to see current vaccination rates