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Putnam drops out of red Covid advisory
For the first time since a spike in cases began nearly two months ago, Putnam County is out of the highest level of COVID-19 advisory, as determined by the Indiana State Department of Health.
With numbers below the thresholds for the most severe rating for the second straight week, Putnam was officially classified as orange when the ISDH released its weekly metrics on Wednesday.
The rating came as little surprise, as cases have been dropping precipitously in recent weeks — similar to how they rose so sharply throughout much of January during the omicron variant surge.
The numbers for the week ending Monday, Feb. 28 — 93 cases per 100,000 residents and a positivity rate of 7.38 percent — would actually put Putnam County in the yellow advisory category if not for ISDH’s policy of only dropping ratings after two weeks of scores below the thresholds.
It’s a script that’s playing out across the state as, about a month after every single county in the state had a red rating, only four counties, all in Southern Indiana, remain in that category. Meanwhile, 29 counties have returned to the yellow rating, and one, Adams County in northeastern Indiana, is actually in the blue category which is, essentially, no advisory at all. If numbers hold, several more counties would be joining Adams next week.
The last week-plus has also seen local fewer deaths from COVID-19, with one confirmed during the week ending Feb. 28 and one since, on Tuesday, March 1. In all, 120 Putnam County residents are confirmed to have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic reached Indiana two years ago this month.
One lagging piece of data seems to be the availability of critical medical resourches. While in Putnam’s District 7 things are pretty good, with 48.3 percent of ICU beds and 87.3 percent of ventillators available, in nearby District 5, things remain a bit strained.
The district, which includes Hendricks and Marion counties, still has just 14.2 percent of its ICU beds available. Meanwhile, the picture for ventillators is better, though, with 74.6 percent available, according to ISDH.