MORGAN COUNTY — As of Wednesday’s update from the Indiana State Department of Health, Morgan County is back in red status when it comes to the metrics for measuring the spread of COVID-19.
Last week, the county had been downgraded to orange status with a continuing red advisory level unless it saw a decrease in its metric score for two consecutive weeks. It is clear this week that this was not the case.
Morgan County, as of this week’s update, has a weekly case rate per 100,000 residents of 361, which is actually down significantly from last week, which had a rate of 636. What prompted the increase to red, however, was the 7-day all test positivity rate, which jumped from 13.37 percent to 16.85 percent.
For a county to be in red status, it needs to have a both a positivity rate above 15 percent and 200 weekly cases per 100,000 residents. The scores of each are averaged, giving a county a score from zero — color coded blue — to three — color coded red.
Morgan, Hendricks, Putnam, Montgomery, Johnson and Brown counties are just some of the surrounding counties still in red status with Marion County resting at a score of 2.5 and Monroe County at two.
The data notes that these results are calculated as of Monday, Dec. 28, 2020.
The colors indicate various different restrictions and precautions that must take place in a county, with red of course being the most stringent of these that could occur.
Medical experts have recently expressed concern for spikes following the holidays as families gathered in larger groups than normal and sometimes crossed county borders to do so, possibly resulting in a higher spread of the disease.
With the two week, and sometimes even a bit longer, incubation period for COVID-19, it is hard to say if the significant number of increased counties in red status this week is a result of the holiday season or not. However, if these concerns play out the way experts expect, more counties could soon be joining Morgan County in red status, especially those just on the cusp.
As it stands, with the most recent update, there are a total of 45 counties in red status, including Morgan County. Last week, the number of counties in red was only 24.
The Mooresville-Decatur Times will continue to monitor the situation with COVID-19 as it develops and speak with the county health department about the concerns at the local level
January 02, 2021 at 12:30PM
https://www.hoosiertimes.com/reporter_times/mdt/back-to-red/article_5c202364-4ad8-11eb-8b6d-0f16c4a1f671.html
Back to red | MDT | hoosiertimes.com - Times-Mail
https://news.google.com/search?q=Red&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
No comments:
Post a Comment