EVANSVILLE — Vanderburgh and Gibson counties each recorded a death due to COVID-19 Friday, and Vanderburgh reported 115 new cases of the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

The new numbers are a double dose of bad news for Vanderburgh County: More death just three days after the county reported a one-day record high of 10 deaths attributable to COVID-19, and a return to triple-digit case numbers.

The total of 115 new cases is closer to the triple-digit or near triple-digit daily counts Vanderburgh County had been seeing before lower numbers began to be reported a few days ago.

Friday's numbers appear on the Indiana State Department of Health's statewide dashboard of cases. Vanderburgh now has reported 61 coronavirus-related deaths. Gibson County has now reported 12.

The 115 new COVID-19 cases reported Friday brings Vanderburgh County's total to 5,882 since the first case emerged on March 19. Warrick County added 23 new cases Friday for a total of 1,952; Posey County added nine for a total of 723; and Gibson County added 15 for a total of 886.

The week has brought other news of COVID-19's spread in the area.

ISDH reported Wednesday that Posey County is now one of four counties in Indiana which is red on ISDH's color-coded map.

The county-by-county rating system for quantifying risk is intended in part as a guide for school leaders on whether to keep students in classrooms. ISDH assigns counties scores based on the number of new cases per 100,000 residents and the percentage of positive COVID-19 tests.

Each county is designated a color, given the average of those numbers. The colors range from blue — least community spread — to yellow, orange and red for greater spread. The map is updated weekly, most recently on Wednesday.

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Posey County's number went down from 589 per 100,000 residents last week to 338. Vanderburgh County saw a decrease from 362 to 320 weekly cases per 100,000 residents.

Gibson County dropped from 353 to 243 weekly cases per 100,000 residents, while Warrick County dropped from 268 to 226.

Pike County has dropped significantly over the last two weeks from 653 two weeks ago to 242 for weekly cases per 100,000 residents.

Pike, Gibson, Vanderburgh and Warrick counties are in "orange" on the state's risk map for the rate at which COVID-19 is spreading.

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All the numbers are higher than medical and health care professionals would like at the moment.

The region remains a hotbed in the state in terms of the rate at which COVID-19 is spreading. Health officials have expressed concern over the sharp and continued rise of cases and the continued strain on medical resources. The Vanderburgh County Health Board last week recommended stricter enforcement on gatherings, restaurants and bars, but city and county officials said they won't go forward with that plan.

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In Vanderburgh County, the number of cases in the 20-29 age group remains the largest demographic of COVID-19 cases, although that number has been slowly dropping recently. It ticked upward this week to 22.1%.

The school-age demographic of children age 0-19 clocks in at 13.7% of all cases locally. That number is slightly higher than the state's proportion of cases in the 0-19 age bracket at 13.2%. The number of those aged 30-39 in Vanderburgh County is 14.9%.

The ISDH dashboard now offers four separate figures for positivity rates. The "unique individuals" positivity rate for Vanderburgh Friday was 10.9% cumulatively and the seven-day rate, covering Oct. 10-16, was 12.8%. The latter number is down nearly a half-percentage point from Thursday's 13.2%.

The "all tests" positivity rate was 4.9% cumulatively and 6.3% over the same seven-day period. The latter number is down from the 7.0% reported Thursday.

A total of 54,132 individuals in Vanderburgh County have been tested for COVID-19 since March 11, with 88,219 total tests administered.

The ISDH updates its online dashboard of COVID-19 data daily, including deaths, as it tracks the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
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