Jump in COVID-19 cases causes Carroll to go red

Kristi Hileman, Pharos-Tribune, Logansport, Ind.
·2 min read

Aug. 19—DELPHI — One-hundred sixty-nine cases of COVID-19 may not seem like many.

But Carroll County is a small community, said Public Health Nurse Joyce Yoder. "We're at our worst."

Halfway through August, and the county adjacent to Cass has become the first in surrounding areas to go "red" on the Indiana State Department of Health's tracking system. Blue is the lowest level for COVID cases, followed by yellow, orange and red.

Pulaski and White counties remain in the yellow, while Cass, Fulton and Miami all sit at orange.

On Thursday, Yoder said she had positive results for 19 people. The numbers keep fluctuating, and there are so many different variants that she is concerned it will continue to be bad everywhere.

According to the ISDH, the county has seen a 17% increase in cases within the last seven days, prompting the change on the color-coding scale as of midweek.

The county hovers around a population count of approximately 20,000, so with four people confirmed positive for the Delta variant, Yoder said it becomes a "very trying time for everybody."

The Carroll County Health Department has requested to meet with the county's commissioners on Sept. 7.

Senate Bill 5, which was passed by the Indiana legislature earlier this year, gave the power over local health concerns to the county commissioners within each community. Health departments are required to get approval from county commissioners when issuing any kind of public health mandate. Further, any orders cannot supersede state health orders.

Therefore, Yoder said she has told the two county schools to follow guidelines set out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC's updated guidelines as of August "recommend universal indoor masking for all students, staff, teachers, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status" due to the threat of the Delta variant.

Social distancing is supposed to be at least 3 feet for vaccinated individuals and 6 feet for those who are not vaccinated, said Yoder.

If a person is fully vaccinated and has been exposed to someone with suspected or confirmed COVID-19, then that person is to get tested three to five days after exposure, regardless of whether he or she has symptoms.

Children 12 and younger are not eligible for the vaccine.

Yoder said 31.1% of Carroll County's population has been vaccinated.

Reach Kristi Hileman at kristi.hileman@pharostribune.com or 574-732-5150.