Warrick County reports two more COVID-19 deaths; Vanderburgh County has 61 new cases

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Warrick County Coroner Sarah Seaton on Thursday reported two new coronavirus-related deaths among elderly individuals at Woodmont Health nursing home in Boonville.

Those two were women, 82 and 90, Seaton said by text. The former died Wednesday and the latter Thursday morning. 

The reports bring Warrick County's total of coronavirus-related deaths to 49, including 48 that have registered on the Indiana State Department of Health's statewide dashboard of cases.

By Courier & Press count, there have now been 10 deaths at Woodmont.

No new deaths were reported Thursday in Vanderburgh, Posey or Gibson counties due to COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. Vanderburgh County added another 61 confirmed COVID-19 cases, bringing the county to a total of 3,967 cases since the first one emerged on March 19.

Vanderburgh and Warrick are now among the four Indiana counties where the virus is currently at the greatest risk of spreading, according to ISDH. They 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, Warrick, Spencer and Vanderburgh have the highest weekly cases per 100,000 population. Warrick registers with 326, Spencer with 236 and Vanderburgh with 220. Other nearby counties with high weekly cases per 100,000 population are Pike at 193, Posey at 173 and Gibson at 169.

More:COVID-19 cases in Vanderburgh County schools revealed in new state map

More:Evansville area officials ponder next steps as area's COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations surge

The Vanderburgh County Health Department and local government officials have attributed much of the recent spike in cases to Labor Day weekend, noting increases also were observed after Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.

The 20-29 age group represents by far the largest demographic of COVID-19 cases in Vanderburgh County at 24.2 percent of the total, although that number has been dropping recently.

More:Slow, gradual process as local hospitality industry bounces back from devastating spring

The reopening of schools also seems to be a significant factor. The percentage of all COVID-19 cases attributable to school-age individuals has risen since Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation's return.

The school-age demographic of children age 0-19 comprises 14.4 percent of all cases locally. That number has ticked downward in recent days, but it is significantly higher than the state's proportion of cases in the 0-19 age bracket, which rests at 13.1 percent.

On Wednesday, 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 is in its infancy and is still relatively unrefined.

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

More:EVSC town hall: Superintendent 'very confident' COVID-19 hasn't spread through schools

More:COVID-19 takes lives of Vanderburgh, Warrick County residents in the prime of life

More:Vanderburgh, Warrick in 'orange' as rate of COVID-19 spread continues to increase: ISDH

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 Thursday was reported to be 8.6 percent cumulatively, and the seven-day rate, covering Sept. 18 to Sept. 24, clocked in at 11.2 percent.

The "all tests" positivity rate was 4.3 percent cumulatively and 5.4 percent over the same seven-day period.

A total of 45,931 individuals in Vanderburgh County have been tested for COVID-19 since March 11, with 66,824 total tests administered.

Local medical and health officials convened last week to warn the public that COVID-19 remains a serious threat despite Indiana moving to Stage 5, the final phase of reopening, Saturday.

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

The Vanderburgh County Health Department buttressed the warning by issuing a news release emphatically denying what it called an "urban myth" that the flu vaccine reduces a person's ability to fight COVID-19.

"Some studies have shown that the most heavily vaccinated individuals respond to new threats much better than individuals lacking a history of vaccination," said the statement signed by health department and local hospital officials.

The number of COVID-19 cases that remain active in Vanderburgh County is no longer available. The Vanderburgh County Health Department's dashboard had been providing that number — but the local agency stopped reporting COVID-19 data in July, ceding control of all local data to ISDH. The state agency has taken over local contact tracing and case investigation but doesn't issue a number of local active cases. 

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

Here is the latest information available for area counties.

INDIANA

According to the ISDH dashboard:

New positive cases: 1,171

Total positive cases: 121,176

New deaths: 13

Total deaths: 3,418

Probable deaths: 227

Those are cases when a physician lists COVID-19 as a contributing cause of death but there are no positive test results recorded.

New tests administered: 21,194

Total individuals tested: 1,387,731

7-day positivity rate for unique individuals: 7.3%

Vanderburgh

New positive cases: 61

Positive cases: 3,967

Deaths: 32

New tests administered: 1,207

Total individuals tested: 45,931

7-day positivity rate for unique individuals: 11.2%

Warrick

New positive cases: 19

Positive cases: 1,447

Deaths: 48

New tests administered: 221

Total individuals tested: 14,290

7-day positivity rate for unique individuals: 15.6%

Posey

New positive cases: 10

Positive cases: 381

Deaths: 2

New tests administered: 92

Total individuals tested: 4,441

7-day positivity rate for unique individuals: 12.1%

Gibson

New positive cases: 13

Positive cases: 573

Deaths: 6

New tests administered: 80

Total individuals tested: 5,588

7-day positivity rate for unique individuals: 17.7%

Spencer

New positive cases: 16

Positive cases: 285

Deaths: 3

New tests administered: 67

Total individuals tested: 3,022

7-day positivity rate for unique individuals: 16.8%

Perry

New positive cases: 3

Positive cases: 229

Deaths: 13

New tests administered: 55

Total individuals tested: 3,873

7-day positivity rate for unique individuals: 9.9%