State changes colors on virus

The latest color-coded COVID-19 prevalence map for northeast Indiana has turned yellow and blue – reflecting a big improvement from last fall.

The new map issued Wednesday by the Indiana State Department of Health showed not a speck of red, the top and most dangerous infection category, in all of Indiana. The map depicts conditions for the seven days that ended Sunday.

Only two Indiana counties, Jasper and Jackson, were in orange, the second-highest category, indicating medium-to-high community spread.

Among the 11 northeast Indiana counties, four were in blue, the lowest category. Seven, including Allen County, were in yellow, the second-lowest category.

Blue counties include Adams, DeKalb, Huntington and LaGrange. Kosciusko, Noble, Steuben, Wabash, Wells and Whitley are the other counties in yellow.

Not all of the newly updated prevalence data are positive, however.

Ten of 11 northeast Indiana counties are showing rising seven-day positivity rates – a measure of how many COVID-19 tests have come back positive for the potentially deadly virus.

Wells County, at 9.73%, has the highest percentage, while Steuben comes in second at 7.53%. Huntington County's positivity rate declined to 2.62%. Allen County's seven-day positivity rate increased to 6.73%.

On Wednesday, the Allen County Department of Health reported that 77 people more tested positive for COVID-19, bringing total confirmed cases to 38,385. No more deaths were added to the county's total of 666.

DeKalb County reported five new cases but no new deaths, bringing total confirmed cases to 4,036 and deaths to 78.

The state health department reported that new cases statewide increased to 1,260, the highest number since mid-February. Fifteen new deaths were reported.

Indiana has had 693,452 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 12,694 confirmed deaths, plus 405 probable deaths based on symptoms in patients without a positive test.

rsalter@jg.net