Fulton County is now the third WVPE listener county in the “red” category on the Indiana Department of Health’s COVID-19 tracking map. Red indicates unchecked spread of the coronavirus.
LaGrange County has been in the red since Nov. 3, and Elkhart since Nov. 17.
All other lisenter counties are still in the “orange” category, which indicates high spread of the virus.
Statewide, only seven counties remain in the “yellow,” one less than last week. The yellow category indicates moderate spread of COVID-19.
The number of red counties statewide rose again this week, from 11 to 18. That’s the highest number of red counties since the end of September, more than two months ago.
Hospitalizations have increased in Healthcare District Two, which covers most of the WVPE listening area. As of Tuesday, there were 268 patients hospitalized with COVID-19. The number of hospitalized patients has been rising sharply since Nov. 12.
And only 12.4 percent of area ICU beds are available this week — almost 2 percentage points less than last week.
According to the state’s vaccine dashboard, 52.9 percent of eligible Hoosiers are fully vaccinated.
By age group, 1.9 percent of Hoosiers ages 5 to 11, 58.4 percent ages 12 and older and 60.5 percent ages 18 and older are fully vaccinated. But vaccination rates still vary widely by zip code.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, all counties in Indiana and Michigan have “high” community spread of the virus. That means both vaccinated and unvaccinated Hoosiers should wear masks indoors.
Contact Gemma atgdicarlo@wvpe.orgor follow her on Twitter at@gemma_dicarlo.
If you appreciate this kind of journalism on your local NPR station, please support it by donating here.
