Tag: mitigation testing

Local officials preach COVID-19 caution as numbers level off, milestones marked

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As the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the one-year mark, it’s been an occasion to mark milestones. At Friday’s weekly press conference of Bloomington area leaders, Indiana University’s director of media relations, Chuck Carney, added one of the achievements.

“We’ve collected 193.1 gallons of spit for our mitigation tests,” Carney said.

The sheer volume of saliva, which pencils out to about one hot tub, or 12 kegs full of spit, was not as important as the current positivity rate, which is just around 0.2 percent.

Numbers of deaths across the state have hit a 7-day rolling average of around 7, the lowest levels since the end of March last year, in the early stages of the pandemic.

The rolling daily average of hospitalizations is around 635, which is about as low as the early July dip, after hitting a high of more than 3,200 a day.

The infection numbers, in Monroe County and across the state, have continued to be much lower than the December peaks, but are starting to level off. Continue reading “Local officials preach COVID-19 caution as numbers level off, milestones marked” →

Monroe County COVID-19 update: Vaccine distribution, infection rates show good relative trends, absolute picture still not ideal

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Monroe County’s two COVID-19 vaccination clinics are able to deliver almost all of the vaccine they’re being allocated by the state of Indiana into the arms of the county’s residents.

That’s the latest word from Brian Shockney, president of IU Health’s south central region.

Speaking at Friday’s weekly press conference of local leaders, Shockney said that through Jan. 27, Bloomington has dispensed 14,717 of the 16,100 doses (91 percent) that have been allocated to Monroe County. By the end of Friday, Shockney said that number would rise even higher.

Shockney said on Friday, “Bloomington’s vaccine site has been outperforming every vaccine site in the IU Health system in regards to our utilization rate.” Shockney said that reflects IU Health’s commitment to making Monroe County the first county to be immunized at a high enough rate to get out of the pandemic.

Infection numbers, deaths and hospitalization  are all trending down, across the state and in the county.

One of the key stats with a local trend in the right direction, and markedly better than elsewhere in the state, is the rolling average “all tests” positivity rate.

For Monroe County the positivity rate has now dropped to 2.9 percent. That is well below the 5-percent threshold that qualifies Monroe County for the best possible score on the state’s two-metric green-yellow-orange-red color-coding scheme.

Even though Monroe County’s numbers for vaccinations and positivity rates are good compared to stats from other places, in absolute terms the picture is still sobering. Continue reading “Monroe County COVID-19 update: Vaccine distribution, infection rates show good relative trends, absolute picture still not ideal” →

Monroe County confirmed COVID-19 numbers jump, driven by younger cases

The last two days of confirmed positive COVID-19 cases in Monroe County have soared past previous highs, since the county’s first confirmed positive case on March 21.

The number reported for Saturday (Aug. 30) was 38, eclipsing the previous one-day total by 3. The number for Sunday was 56, which is about double the current rolling 7-day rolling average of confirmed positives.

Speculation that the increased numbers are driven by positive tests among Indiana University students is supported by the age range of recent cases. Monroe County health administrator Penny Caudill told The Square Beacon that the health department was getting reports of increased numbers of positive test among people age 18 to 25.

Caudill told The Square Beacon that she’d been advised that the Indiana State Department of Health will eventually provide a breakdown of Indiana University’s numbers. “I am anxiously awaiting these details from the state,” she said.

Based on Indiana State Department of Health numbers, it’s the younger age brackets that are driving the increases. People under age 30 account for 70 percent of confirmed cases for the three-and-a-half-week period from Aug. 7 through yesterday. Continue reading “Monroe County confirmed COVID-19 numbers jump, driven by younger cases” →