COVID-19 deaths, hospitalizations go one way in Vanderburgh County, new cases go another

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — COVID-19 cases and positivity rates may be declining in large urban counties such as Marion and Lake, but they're still rising in Vanderburgh and other Southwest Indiana counties.

Local deaths and hospitalizations also are hewing to a familiar pattern — they are holding steady even as the more-contagious but less-severe omicron variant steams onward.

Vanderburgh County recorded just short of 1,300 new cases on Monday and Tuesday alone, a trend which — if it holds — would vault the county past last week's record 4,385 cases. The county also recorded a record high 35.1% seven-day positivity rate on Saturday, the most recent figure available.

Newly identified COVID-19 cases also are still rising in Warrick, Posey and Gibson counties. Those counties and Vanderburgh came up "red" — the highest level of severity on Indiana's color-coded COVID-19 severity map — in Wednesday's weekly roundup. In fact, the map was a sea of red on Wednesday. All 92 counties in the state were red.

More:At-home COVID test website launches early. How to order free testing kits from the government

But local COVID-19 deaths are on pace to come in at a lower number than in recent months. Vanderburgh County saw 16 in December, 11 in November, 26 in October and, so far, five in January.

Deaconess Health System reported a week ago that it had 144 COVID-positive hospitalized patients and 59 in the ICU in its hospitals — but the corresponding numbers on Wednesday were 146 and 44. Ascension St. Vincent Evansville reported it had 32 hospitalized COVID-19 patients two weeks ago, 27 last week and 36 this week.

More:Hospitals hanging in there as Vanderburgh County sets new COVID-19 records

Kids still leading new case increases

School-age children — the least-vaccinated groups according to state data — accounted for the biggest slice of new identified coronavirus cases in area counties last week.

In Warrick County, kids up to age 17 made up 27% of new cases. That's 10 percentage points higher than residents in their 30s and 40s, the next-highest age groups. Adolescents and younger children also were the highest proportion of cases in Vanderburgh County at 24%.

But the true scale of the increases are not captured in those figures.

Vanderburgh County's 24% translated into about 1,052 total cases — a 121% increase over the previous week's total for school-age kids. Figured the same way, Warrick County saw a 79% increase among kids.

It's not unusual in Indiana.

In COVID-19 case data updated every Monday, schools statewide reported 15,485 cases among students last week — more than doubling the record set the previous week. They also reported more than 1,000 cases in both teachers and staff members for the first time.

More:EVSC, Warrick meet exploding COVID-19 cases with mask mandates, not remote learning

COVID-19 data for individual schools are available on the Indiana State Department of Health's statewide dashboard (coronavirus.in.gov) by going to the "School" tab.

Local residents should get used to Vanderburgh County's "red" designation on the state's color-coded COVID severity map, at least for the near future. A county cannot drop from red to a lower level of severity until it rings up two consecutive weeks of lower scores. The map draws from testing positivity rate data that is nine to 15 days old.

COVID-19 cases in Evansville-area counties

Overall tallies as of Wednesday:

• Vanderburgh County has reported 47,506 COVID-19 cases in all during the pandemic and 523 deaths.
• Warrick County has reported 16,642 COVID-19 cases in all during the pandemic and 213 deaths.
• Gibson County has reported 9,415 COVID-19 cases in all during the pandemic and 125 deaths.
• Posey County has reported 5,434 COVID-19 cases in all during the pandemic and 48 deaths.

Thomas B. Langhorne can be reached by email at tom.langhorne@courierpress.com.