State statistics show 4 August COVID-related deaths in Wayne County

Mike Emery, Richmond Palladium-Item
·3 min read

RICHMOND, Ind. — Four Wayne County residents have died this month from COVID-19 complications, according to state statistics.

The Indiana State Health Department's Monday update showed deaths occurred Aug. 6, 12, 20 and 22. That's already more deaths in August than during any of the previous five months. There were 13 COVID-related deaths during February, which concluded a run of six consecutive months with double-figure deaths, topped by 31 in September 2021.

All of the August deaths have been residents older than 60. Of the 340 Wayne County residents to die from COVID complications since April 2020, 311 (91.5%) have been age 60 or older. The state statistics also indicate eight more probable COVID-related deaths among county residents.

Monday's Reid Health update reported 11 patients in COVID-19 containment areas. None of the patients was in intensive care.

Wayne County has surpassed the 21,000-case threshold this month. The county, which now has 21,390 laboratory-confirmed cases, according to the state, passed 21,000 cases Aug. 15. That was 32 days after the county's case total topped 20,000. That 32-day span is shorter than the 110 gap between 18,000 and 19,000 cases of the 53-day gap between 19,000 and 20,000 cases.

The third week of August saw a significant case increase from the month's first two weeks. There were 261 cases reported Aug. 15 to 21. That's a 40.3% increase from the 186 cases reported Aug. 8 to 14. There were 187 cases reported during the month's first week.

The 261 cases in a week tops the July's highest case week of 255 from July 18 to 24 and is the most single-week cases since 335 the first week of February. With only preliminary numbers, there are already 131 cases reported Aug. 22 to 28.

With 10 days of case totals still to finalize this month, 765 cases have been reported this month. That's 80.2% of July's 954 cases.

The laboratory-confirmed case total is accepted as being lower that the county's total case total because of home tests. Residents testing positive for COVID-19 in home tests are not required to report the positive results to county or state health officials.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention list Wayne and Fayette counties as having medium community levels of COVID-19. Randolph, Henry, Franklin, Darke and Preble counties have high community levels of COVID-19, and Union County is listed at the low level.

The overall case and death totals for surrounding counties are:

  • Darke County: 13,754 positives and 242 deaths;

  • Fayette County: 7,565 positives and 145 deaths;

  • Henry County: 14,578 positives and 235 deaths;

  • Franklin County: 4,847 positives and 57 deaths;

  • Preble County: 10,535 positives and 203 deaths;

  • Randolph County: 6,483 positives and 149 deaths;

  • Union County: 2,156 positives and 21 deaths.

Indiana has recorded 1,891,405 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases and 23,391 COVID-related deaths through Sunday. The Ohio Department of Health's weekly update Thursday reported 3,049,546 cases and 39,406 deaths.

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: State statistics show 4 August COVID-related deaths in Wayne County