Tag: COVID-19

Pandemic notebook: Decline in positive cases continues with slight hitch

Monroe County’s confirmed positive COVID-19 numbers continue their rapid decrease, after a spike that saw them go up just about as fast.

That matches the trend across the state of Indiana.

Also showing a similar pattern for the county and the whole state is a hitch in the decrease for the rolling 7-day average of daily cases.

For Monroe County, the rolling average for the last five days has been stuck between 65 and 70 cases a day.

That’s a wrinkle that could be a side effect of the snowstorm that shut down many testing facilities on Feb. 3 and Feb. 4, just before the weekend. That could have led to a delay in testing or reports of tests until the following Monday and Tuesday, bumping the numbers for those two days, which are still a part of the current rolling daily average. Continue reading “Pandemic notebook: Decline in positive cases continues with slight hitch” →

Monroe County mask mandate likely to end whenever governor’s emergency order expires

Indiana governor Eric Holcomb’s current order declaring a health emergency for Indiana due to the COVID-19 pandemic will expire on March 4, if he doesn’t extend it for a 24th time.

If Holcomb doesn’t extend the order, Monroe County’s board of health members are now inclined to let the mask mandate expire with the governor’s order. That’s based on their discussion at the board of health’s Thursday meeting.

No vote was taken on a formal motion. Continue reading “Monroe County mask mandate likely to end whenever governor’s emergency order expires” →

COVID-19 update: Numbers hit plateau, vaccine clinics this week

After a steep climb starting in late 2021 going through mid-January, the number of positive COVID-19 cases in Monroe County and the state of Indiana appear to have plateaued and are starting to show signs of declining.

In Monroe County, the rolling 7-day average has stayed mostly under 290 cases per day for the last two weeks, after hitting 293 on Jan. 13.

The statewide hospital census of COVID-19 patients shows the same general trend, although the rise in cases has been smaller, compared to the total number of cases. Statewide, the rolling daily average census of patients who are hospitalized with the pandemic virus has declined for the last five days, after peaking at around 3,450 patients.

Based on numbers from Indiana’s pandemic dashboard, 75 percent of positive COVID-19 cases in the last four weeks were caused by the Omicron variant.

Vaccine clinics at two locations this week are being promoted by Monroe County’s public health department. Continue reading “COVID-19 update: Numbers hit plateau, vaccine clinics this week” →

COVID-19 numbers continue steep climb as Monroe County and Bloomington take different paths after Supreme Court vax-or-test ruling

The number of positive COVID-19 cases across Indiana and in Monroe County has continued its steep rise.

The big case numbers form part of the background to Thursday’s U.S. Supreme ruling on the OSHA emergency temporary standard set forth by the Biden administration.

It’s the standard that includes a requirement for employers with more than 100 workers to be vaccinated or get tested weekly for the pandemic virus.

The Supreme Court ruling imposes a stay on the OSHA rule.

A 6–3 majority on the nation’s highest court agrees that OSHA’s mandate “exceeds its statutory authority and is otherwise unlawful,” which means that the majority thinks the plaintiffs in a lower federal court battle are likely to prevail.

Based on remarks from Bloomington mayor John Hamilton at Friday’s weekly news conference, it sounds like the city of Bloomington is going to stick with its implementation of the OSHA mandate, while a local lawsuit against the city plays out. Three city unions  filed a lawsuit against the city of Bloomington in Monroe County circuit court  over the city’s vax-or-test policy.

Based on an email message sent to department heads by a Monroe County staff attorney, Monroe County will hold off on enforcing its plan to conform with the OSHA mandate.  The email message states: “[D]epartment leaders are being asked to not enforce the additional requirements found in that particular policy.” The message continues, “Compliance with the local health order and other aspects of the County Continuity of Operations Plan is still expected.” Continue reading “COVID-19 numbers continue steep climb as Monroe County and Bloomington take different paths after Supreme Court vax-or-test ruling” →

Sheer number of COVID-19 cases has health care system struggling

Image distributed by IU Health.

The rolling average of positive COVID-19 cases in Monroe County now stands at about 152 per day. That’s almost twice the average this time last year. It’s also about 1.5 times the previous pandemic high point for the county, which came in November 2021.

It’s the same picture across all of Indiana. The rolling average of positive cases across the Hoosier state is 10,227, nearly twice the 5,500 average daily cases at this time last year.

Even if the infections caused by the Omicron variant of the virus might be comparatively milder, it’s their sheer number, and the likelihood of spread to vulnerable populations, that is still putting more people in the hospital. And that’s putting a continued strain on statewide and local health systems.

President of IU Health’s south central region, Brian Shockney, put it this way at a news conference of local leaders held Friday: “Omicron is hitting a high number of people and spreading fast to those immunocompromised patients. And they are what we can see in the initial stages here are getting hospitalized.”

Shockney continued, “IU Health is caring for its highest number of patients of the pandemic to date.” He added, “70 percent of these patients are unvaccinated.”

For the watching public, Shockney repeated what has become a kind of mantra: “Get vaccinated. Get boosted. Get tested.” Continue reading “Sheer number of COVID-19 cases has health care system struggling” →

Pandemic notebook: Highest ever rolling daily case average for Hoosier state, vaccine clinic in Bloomington Jan. 5 to Jan. 8

Location of vaccine clinic from Jan. 5 to Jan. 8: 800 N. Indiana Ave., between 11th and 12th streets.

The datasets maintained by Indiana’s state department of health were updated Monday afternoon, with the COVID-19 numbers from the previous four days.

Indiana’s rolling average of daily positive test results now stands at 8,175 as of Jan. 2. That’s an all-time pandemic high, eclipsing the previous absolute peak of 6,895 on Dec. 6 of 2020.

In Monroe County, the rolling average now stands at 105 cases a day. That’s not the all-time high. But it’s in the neighborhood of the absolute peak of 114 on Nov. 20, 2020.

A COVID-19 vaccination and testing clinic that’s open to the public is being held from noon to 8 p.m. for four days on Jan. 5, Jan. 6, Jan. 7 and Jan. 8 at 800 N. Indiana Ave. in Bloomington. The location is between 11th and 12th streets. Continue reading “Pandemic notebook: Highest ever rolling daily case average for Hoosier state, vaccine clinic in Bloomington Jan. 5 to Jan. 8” →

COVID-19 update: Confirmed cases, hospitalizations same level as last year, Holcomb looks for help convincing Hoosiers to get jabbed

At a Wednesday afternoon news conference, Indiana governor Eric Holcomb announced he had extended his emergency health order another month.

It allows local units of government to impose their own more restrictive regulations to try to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus. But the governor’s order does not itself include restrictions like a mask mandate.

Joining Holcomb at the news conference were Lindsay Weaver, the chief medical officer for Indiana’s department of health, and Kristina Box, the state’s health commissioner.

Box delivered a grim outlook at roughly the one-year mark for the arrival of the first COVID-19 vaccines in Indiana. “We once again are facing a very bleak situation with this pandemic. Our COVID-19 hospital census is at the highest level in an entire year,” Box said.

Despite the availability of the vaccine for a year, the situation now looks a lot like last year. Continue reading “COVID-19 update: Confirmed cases, hospitalizations same level as last year, Holcomb looks for help convincing Hoosiers to get jabbed” →

Pandemic notebook: Monroe County racks up 100 cases for one day in last update before Christmas

Indiana’s COVID-19 dashboard recorded 100 positive cases for Monroe County on Tuesday, Dec. 21.

That’s the highest daily total the county has seen since early January. It’s the 19th time Monroe County has hit triple digits for a day, since the county’s first positive case was identified on March 21, 2020.

The dashboard won’t get updated again until Monday, Dec. 27. The tentative date for the next news conference hosted by local leaders about their response to the pandemic is Thursday, Dec. 30.

One topic that could come up at the news conference is the vaccination status of local government employees.

A Jan. 4 deadline for vaccination or testing has been set by U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for employers with more than 100 workers. Under the OSHA requirement, employees would have to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 4, or get a weekly test for the virus.

Recent judicial activity related to that deadline includes a 2-1 decision by a panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of the Biden administration’s OSHA requirement. Continue reading “Pandemic notebook: Monroe County racks up 100 cases for one day in last update before Christmas” →

One year after vaccine, IU Health at highest census since pandemic start: “That just seems unreal…”

Across its whole system, IU Health is now caring for its highest number of COVID-19 patients since the pandemic started.

That was the bad news delivered by president of IU Health’s south central region, Brian Shockney, at Friday’s biweekly news conference with local leaders on pandemic response.

Shockney put that state of affairs in the context of the one-year milestone for the first vaccines administered in the state of Indiana. He said, “We didn’t think one year after the vaccine became available, we would see our highest COVID-19 volumes to date.”

Shockney continued, “That just seems unreal that we have a vaccine and we’re in this state of highest numbers of inpatients in our hospitals.”

Shockney said IU Health has for now suspended all elective surgeries.

As a reason for cautious optimism, Shockney gave the leveling off of positive cases statewide. The leveling and subsequent dropping of positive case numbers tends to be followed by a downward trend in hospital inpatient numbers, Shockney said.

With the next round of holiday gatherings on the horizon, Shockney said, “It’s imperative that we all take precautions during this time. Our January and February can be a good January and February and not the same as December, if we do the right thing.”

The “right thing,” according to Shockeny and other health officials, includes getting an initial vaccination, a booster for people who have already been vaccinated, and a test for people who think they might be symptomatic. Continue reading “One year after vaccine, IU Health at highest census since pandemic start: “That just seems unreal…”” →

Monroe County sees COVID-19 cases rise: “…could be our worst surge yet—it’s terrible.”

At Friday’s news conference of local leaders on COVID-19 pandemic response, Bloomington mayor John Hamilton reacted to the relatively positive picture that Indiana University health officer Aaron Carroll had just painted about the situation on campus.

“I’m really just echoing what Dr. Carroll said, which is: Probably one of the safest places to be is on campus. And that their experience is different from the experience of the community as a whole.”

The difference between the world of the campus and the broader community was something Carroll was quick to confirm. Carroll said, “I completely agree.” Carroll added, “Indiana is in a surge, there is no question. And looks like it could be our worst surge yet—it’s terrible.”

One measure of the increasing level of concern about pandemic trends was the fact that Friday’s news conference was held at all. It was supposed to be an off week in the every-other-week schedule of media calls. Continue reading “Monroe County sees COVID-19 cases rise: “…could be our worst surge yet—it’s terrible.”” →