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All WVPE listener counties, vast majority of state, in ‘red’ on Indiana’s COVID-19 tracking map

Indiana Department of Health

This week, Elkhart, Pulaski, Fulton and Kosciusko counties re-entered the “red” category — indicating unchecked community spread of COVID-19 — on the state’s coronavirus tracking map.

St. Joseph, LaPorte, LaGrange, Starke and Marshall counties were already in the “red” last week.

That parallels the situation statewide, as the vast majority of Indiana’s counties are now in the “red.” Only 11 remain in the “orange,” which indicates high spread of the virus.

Hospitalizations have remained steady in Healthcare District Two, which covers most of the WVPE listening area, but are still near the peak of the winter 2020 surge.

As of Tuesday, there were 255 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and 8 more suspected of having the disease for a total of 263.

That’s one more than last Tuesday’s 262 — and a significant drop from 325 on Dec. 22 — but only 13.6 percent of area ICU beds are available, a slight increase from last week.

On Tuesday, Indiana reported 15,067 new cases — just below the Jan. 7 record of 15,496 — and the seven-day moving average was 13,552.

Between Oct. 21 and Nov. 3, the seven-day moving average plateaued between 1,550 and 1,650.

Statewide, 8.9 percent of ICU beds are available, a drop from last week’s 10.2 percent. Currently, 3,488 Hoosiers are hospitalized with COVID-19, 28 patients more than the peak of the winter 2020 surge.

According to Indiana’s vaccine dashboard, 55.2 percent of Hoosiers aged 5 and older and 59.7 percent of Hoosiers aged 12 and older are fully vaccinated.

In addition, about 42 percent of fully vaccinated Hoosiers have received COVID-19 booster shots. 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 Michiganders and Hoosiers should wear masks indoors.

Berrien County is also reporting its highest ever COVID-19 case numbers.

Contact Jakob at jlazzaro@wvpe.org or follow him on Twitter at @JakobLazzaro.

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Jakob Lazzaro came to Indiana from Chicago, where he graduated from Northwestern University in 2020 with a degree in Journalism and a double major in History. Before joining WVPE, he wrote NPR's Source of the Week e-mail newsletter, and previously worked for CalMatters, Pittsburgh's 90.5 WESA and North by Northwestern.