By JESSICA BRICKER and DAVE SCHULTZ
Even as Wells County has again reached the lowest rating for community spread of COVID-19, joining 22 counties in the “blue” this week, the Wells County Health Board began the discussion of what public health actions regarding the coronavirus will look like going forward.
“It’s labeled now as endemic,” said Lynn Blevens, the county’s public health nurse. “The question is, what it’s going to look like after.”
Blevins’ report to the board Thursday morning noted that there are 42 active COVID-19 cases in Wells County out of the 6,477 cases reported to the department since the start of the pandemic in early 2020. He said this may be the last time he will be able to provide hard numbers because of the increasing availability and use of home tests. Those results are often not reported, he said.
In all, Wells County has had 97,273 tests performed. There have been 127 deaths attributed to the disease.
Blevins said the Moderna vaccine has been the most-used in Wells County, primarily because it was the first one available locally. There have been 13,167 doses of the Moderna vaccine administered in Wells County, with 803 of the Pfizer adult vaccine and 15 of the Johnson and Johnson “one and done” vaccine administered. There have been 161 doses given to children.
At this point, he said, “everybody that wanted vaccinated has gotten vaccinated. Everybody that wanted the booster has gotten the booster.”
The statewide report says that other area counties with the blue “minimal risk of spread” categorization include Huntington, Adams and Jay. There are five orange counties for moderate risk of spread, most of them in southern Indiana, and the remaining counties are yellow for low risk of spread.
There are no red counties, indicating high risk of spread.
jessica@news-banner.com
dave@news-banner.com
