EVANSVILLE — Nearby Pike County on Wednesday became the only Indiana county in the "red" level on the state's risk map for the rate at which COVID-19 is spreading.

Gibson, Posey and Dubois counties joined Vanderburgh, Warrick and Spencer in the "orange" as a slew of new cases in Southwestern Indiana, including 87 in Vanderburgh, were reported on the Indiana State Department of Health's dashboard.

While Pike County reported just two new cases and 246 total Wednesday, it's 653 per 100,000 population rate of weekly cases far outpaced other counties, possibly driven by an outbreak at a Petersburg nursing home. Amber Manor Care Center reported active cases in 43 of 56 residents and 33 of 96 staff on Trilogy Health Services COVID-19 database. Louisville-based Trilogy owns the facility.

Vanderburgh's total cases has risen to 4,449 cases since the first one emerged on March 19. One new death was reported in the county, that of a 50-year-old man, according to the Vanderburgh County Health Department.

One new death and 18 new cases were reported in Posey County and 26 cases in Gibson. Warrick reported 31 new cases and no deaths Wednesday.

The Posey County Health Department said Wednesday's reported death there was of a 68-year man.

Vanderburgh, Warrick, Posey, Gibson, Spencer and Dubois are among the eight Indiana counties where the virus is currently at the greatest risk of spreading, according to ISDH. Those counties, along with the Central Indiana counties of Grant and Henry, are in the "orange" level on ISDH's color-coded map assessing key metrics in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

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.

In the entire state, Southwestern Indiana counties have some of the highest weekly cases per 100,000 population. Posey registers with 361, Vanderburgh with 284, Gibson and Warrick with 261, Spencer with 197 and Dubois with 196. That number is updated weekly.

The 20-29 age group represents the largest demographic of COVID-19 cases in Vanderburgh County at 23.3% of the total, although that number has been slowly dropping recently.

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The school-age demographic of children age 0-19 comprises 14.43% of all cases locally, higher than the state's proportion of cases in the 0-19 age bracket at 13.2%.

A new online tool designed to help track COVID-19 in Indiana schools gave local residents their first glimpse at details about cases in EVSC and other local schools.

The COVID-19 school dashboard offered by ISDH is intended to give the number of cases in particular schools around the state and can be found at coronavirus.in.gov/. Locally, it is the first historical snapshot of COVID-19 cases among students, teachers and staff. ISDH officials say the dashboard.

On May 21 — when Vanderburgh County had just 228 COVID-19 cases in all — just 3% of cases involved individuals 19 or younger.

The ISDH dashboard now offers four separate figures for positivity rates — the percentage of people tested who come up positive for COVID-19. The "unique individuals" positivity rate for Vanderburgh Wednesday was 9.2% cumulatively and the seven-day rate, covering Sept. 24-30, was 14.8%.

The "all tests" positivity rate was 4.5% cumulatively and rose to 6.1% over the same seven-day period.

A total of 48,128 individuals in Vanderburgh County have been tested for COVID-19 since March 11, with 72,092 tests administered.

Local medical and health officials convened in late September to warn the public that COVID-19 remains a serious threat despite Indiana moving to Stage 5, the final phase of reopening, Sept. 26.

Among their warnings: Get your flu shot now, if possible.

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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