Summer’s Ending But COVID Is Heating Up Again
September 2, 2021 at 1:23 a.m.
Summer’s Ending But COVID Is Heating Up Again
By David [email protected]
The weekly – then biweekly – press conferences on the pandemic at Warsaw City Hall halted at the end of May, but with the upswing in COVID-19 positive cases, another one was held Wednesday.
“We got through the summer. Here we are Sept. 1 and certainly seemed things changed locally,” Mayor Joe Thallemer said in his opening remarks. “Our local group – the county, the Health Department, our testing partners The Bowen Center – have been meeting for three weeks keeping up with the numbers and situation and felt it was important to answer questions and make a presentation this morning about where we stand currently in our county.”
Cases
Kosciusko County Public Health Officer Dr. William Remington said the county had its first case March 26, 2020. Since then, the county is up to 10,450 cases. By the last press briefing May 26, it was 9,500.
There have been 128 deaths, up from 117 May 26.
The State Department of Health’s advisory color-coded map has Kosciusko at the “orange” level. Blue is the lowest level, followed by yellow, orange and then red is the highest and worst level. Remington said the “orange” level is “a couple notches worse than where we were when we last met in May when we were blue.” The county’s orange level this week is the same as last week.
Kosciusko’s positivity rate is at 7.8%, a seven-day rolling average. At the county’s worst in November, it was at 26%. On May 26, the county was at 3.4%.
“We have not seen this positivity since January or early November. Kind of the shoulders of that mountain we saw late in November,” Remington said.
The county now is averaging 35 new cases daily, compared to 134 in November and three in May. “Two hundred seventeen weekly cases per 100,000. That’s a metric the state is now watching and measuring and that folds into the color-coded map,” he said. A month ago, the county was at 59. “So a substantial jump.”
As for hospitalizations, not only in Kosciusko County but also in District 2 and 3 (South Bend and Fort Wayne areas), Remington said they’re all “significantly” up. In May, he said they were down.
“Deaths are a late-coming indicator. Takes a little while for those to occur, but we’re up. They’re coming up nationwide and the state of Indiana,” Remington said. “Our seven-day moving average is now 17. We were 100 in November. We were 10 when we last met in May. So deaths now are coming up. ... So those will assuredly go up in the next month.”
Vaccines
The state of Indiana is up to 6.2 million vaccine doses given total, up from 5 million in May. Remington said 3.1 million people in Indiana are fully immunized, up from 2.5 million in May “so we’re creeping up.”
As for Kosciusko County, 27,621 people are fully immunized. That’s up 5,600 people since May.
Of the population in Kosciusko County eligible for immunizations – 12 years and older – Remington said as of Wednesday morning it was 41%, up from 33% at the end of May.
“That’s where we are with vaccines. So some improvements, so thank you, Kosciusko County, for rolling up your sleeves and more people being immunized. We’re creeping up. We’re still not probably the banner county for the state, but for a rural county, we’re holding our own. I’d like to see more,” he said.
Only about half of eligible Hoosiers have been immunized, he said, but more is needed. Remington pointed out that the Pfizer vaccine has received FDA approval for those 16 and older. “To me that was a boost of confidence that we’re on the right track with vaccines,” he said.
Thallemer later said the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory is still offering mobile vaccination clinics if an industry or group would request that. Contact the WWFT to set up a mobile clinic.
Delta Variant
Of those cases genetically sequenced in Indiana, the Delta variant makes up 98% of them. Remington said it was less than 1% in May.
India has had a “horrible experience” with Delta, he said. It’s very contagious and the viral load is “extremely high.” In the last two to three weeks, he said the discussion is getting louder that Delta is more virulent and more aggressive case by case.
“The pediatric side is raising eyebrows, and had not been the case with ... Alpha back in the winter,” Remington said, noting that Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis is “really feeling this.”
The pressure on health care facilities, on the adult side, is “very significant, locally, regionally. Calls out for volunteer staffing to come in after hours and give a little more time to help out at the bedside. People sitting on gurneys in the halls again. So I’m telling you, it’s a real thing.”
Remington said he couldn’t have predicted this situation with the virus. “And this is really bad again.” After listening to the state press conference on Friday, he said the state was “very clear the worst is yet to come.”
There are some reinfections and breakthrough cases (meaning if you had a case of COVID, you can get it again). While that’s a real thing with the Delta variant, Remington said statistically that’s still a “minority.”
The bottom line, he said, is for people to get immunized if they are eligible.
“Despite some disappointments, it’s still your best deal,” he said. “... Get a shot, please.”
Go to ourshot.in.gov; call 211; or check with your pharmacy to see if they will take you as a walk-up.
Testing
Testing for COVID has risen of late, not only in the county but beyond. A graph provided by the Bowen Center shows a continual increase in testing in Kosciusko County since late July.
Bowen Center President and CEO Kurt Carlson said over the summer, they just had a handful of people per day getting tested so the testing site staffed down to 1-1/2 workers.
“This has dramatically increased from us just doing 10 a day to 161 yesterday (Tuesday),” he said, noting that when he drove past the fairgrounds the lines were “long again and snaking through.” The testing site has been authorized to add staff to keep up with testing.
Hours for the fairgrounds testing site will be expanded next week. While it will be closed Monday for Labor Day, going forward the hours for the testing site will be: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Tuesday, noon to 6 p.m.; and Saturday (beginning Sept. 11), 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Hours will be adjusted depending on demand.
“It’s a privilege to serve the community, but it’s disheartening to see this happening again,” Carlson said.
Masking
In the question-and-answer session of the press conference, when asked if there would be any type of “mask mandate” for the city, county and/or city/county employees, Thallemer responded, “I would just say we’re keeping an eye on the numbers, and, obviously, as the weeks progress, we’re probably getting closer to having to make some type of restriction. I can’t fully tell you what that is yet.”
While those people who have been vaccinated helps, he said it becomes a little more difficult when not everyone has been vaccinated.
“So, from a city perspective, we’re certainly considering but have not made any decisions on that,” he said.
Hospitals
What’s the bed capacity at local hospitals if the positive case numbers continue to rise and there’s an increase in hospitalizations? Is there room?
Remington said, “So our hospitals accommodate patients. I can’t quote on behalf of any of the hospitals that are in our immediate region, if they are diverting elective cases right now. That had been a strategy back through the winter. Very thankful for hospitals to do that. I don’t think anybody’s going there very quickly at all this time. So they’re trying to get the usual course of business done, and now comes Delta. It’s tight. But if you need care, go to your local hospital and seek care.”
If a person can remain an out-patient, he said they should start with their primary care resources.
An ABC57 reporter asked a follow-up question: What is being done to help the situation at the hospitals?
Remington, speaking for Kosciusko Community Hospital, said they’re staffing up. “The call is to just get more staff in to help. They’ve been successful with that. If someone is on a gurney in a hall, they try to minimize the length of that. That happens a lot at hospitals periodically,” he said. “We’re kind of feeling that. It’s not just KCH. The other regional hospitals are doing that, too.”
Across the state, some hospitals are diverting care to other hospitals, again.
Public Appetite
With the pandemic at almost 1-1/2 years in, there’s been quite a bit of public pushback to the masking, vaccination, testing, etc. Asked if he was in a more difficult position because the public doesn’t have an “appetite” for what has occurred up to this point, Remington didn’t hold back.
He said he had two or three COVID cases last week. One was a visit with a middle-aged woman who was pretty ill.
“It couldn’t be COVID. Just couldn’t be COVID,” Remington recalled her saying.
Then another case was with a mother and her teenage son who could barely keep his head up he was so ill. He tested positive for COVID.
“It just couldn’t be COVID. It just wasn’t going to be COVID. It can’t be!” he recalled her saying. “That’s the thing that is spooking me. I think ... it’s just not in their calculus anymore. There’s a substantial cohort of the population that, they’re just not going there with a differential diagnosis in their minds. They have to be really smacked up against it, right in their faces.”
The reason he said that, he said, is because those people are out there mixing it up with others “because it wasn’t COVID. It just couldn’t be COVID! And that spooks me a bit, and I think we are going to feel that in our schools here. We already are to some degree from the conversations I’ve been hearing this past week.”
He said it will be a “substantial” issue in the next month.
The weekly – then biweekly – press conferences on the pandemic at Warsaw City Hall halted at the end of May, but with the upswing in COVID-19 positive cases, another one was held Wednesday.
“We got through the summer. Here we are Sept. 1 and certainly seemed things changed locally,” Mayor Joe Thallemer said in his opening remarks. “Our local group – the county, the Health Department, our testing partners The Bowen Center – have been meeting for three weeks keeping up with the numbers and situation and felt it was important to answer questions and make a presentation this morning about where we stand currently in our county.”
Cases
Kosciusko County Public Health Officer Dr. William Remington said the county had its first case March 26, 2020. Since then, the county is up to 10,450 cases. By the last press briefing May 26, it was 9,500.
There have been 128 deaths, up from 117 May 26.
The State Department of Health’s advisory color-coded map has Kosciusko at the “orange” level. Blue is the lowest level, followed by yellow, orange and then red is the highest and worst level. Remington said the “orange” level is “a couple notches worse than where we were when we last met in May when we were blue.” The county’s orange level this week is the same as last week.
Kosciusko’s positivity rate is at 7.8%, a seven-day rolling average. At the county’s worst in November, it was at 26%. On May 26, the county was at 3.4%.
“We have not seen this positivity since January or early November. Kind of the shoulders of that mountain we saw late in November,” Remington said.
The county now is averaging 35 new cases daily, compared to 134 in November and three in May. “Two hundred seventeen weekly cases per 100,000. That’s a metric the state is now watching and measuring and that folds into the color-coded map,” he said. A month ago, the county was at 59. “So a substantial jump.”
As for hospitalizations, not only in Kosciusko County but also in District 2 and 3 (South Bend and Fort Wayne areas), Remington said they’re all “significantly” up. In May, he said they were down.
“Deaths are a late-coming indicator. Takes a little while for those to occur, but we’re up. They’re coming up nationwide and the state of Indiana,” Remington said. “Our seven-day moving average is now 17. We were 100 in November. We were 10 when we last met in May. So deaths now are coming up. ... So those will assuredly go up in the next month.”
Vaccines
The state of Indiana is up to 6.2 million vaccine doses given total, up from 5 million in May. Remington said 3.1 million people in Indiana are fully immunized, up from 2.5 million in May “so we’re creeping up.”
As for Kosciusko County, 27,621 people are fully immunized. That’s up 5,600 people since May.
Of the population in Kosciusko County eligible for immunizations – 12 years and older – Remington said as of Wednesday morning it was 41%, up from 33% at the end of May.
“That’s where we are with vaccines. So some improvements, so thank you, Kosciusko County, for rolling up your sleeves and more people being immunized. We’re creeping up. We’re still not probably the banner county for the state, but for a rural county, we’re holding our own. I’d like to see more,” he said.
Only about half of eligible Hoosiers have been immunized, he said, but more is needed. Remington pointed out that the Pfizer vaccine has received FDA approval for those 16 and older. “To me that was a boost of confidence that we’re on the right track with vaccines,” he said.
Thallemer later said the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory is still offering mobile vaccination clinics if an industry or group would request that. Contact the WWFT to set up a mobile clinic.
Delta Variant
Of those cases genetically sequenced in Indiana, the Delta variant makes up 98% of them. Remington said it was less than 1% in May.
India has had a “horrible experience” with Delta, he said. It’s very contagious and the viral load is “extremely high.” In the last two to three weeks, he said the discussion is getting louder that Delta is more virulent and more aggressive case by case.
“The pediatric side is raising eyebrows, and had not been the case with ... Alpha back in the winter,” Remington said, noting that Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis is “really feeling this.”
The pressure on health care facilities, on the adult side, is “very significant, locally, regionally. Calls out for volunteer staffing to come in after hours and give a little more time to help out at the bedside. People sitting on gurneys in the halls again. So I’m telling you, it’s a real thing.”
Remington said he couldn’t have predicted this situation with the virus. “And this is really bad again.” After listening to the state press conference on Friday, he said the state was “very clear the worst is yet to come.”
There are some reinfections and breakthrough cases (meaning if you had a case of COVID, you can get it again). While that’s a real thing with the Delta variant, Remington said statistically that’s still a “minority.”
The bottom line, he said, is for people to get immunized if they are eligible.
“Despite some disappointments, it’s still your best deal,” he said. “... Get a shot, please.”
Go to ourshot.in.gov; call 211; or check with your pharmacy to see if they will take you as a walk-up.
Testing
Testing for COVID has risen of late, not only in the county but beyond. A graph provided by the Bowen Center shows a continual increase in testing in Kosciusko County since late July.
Bowen Center President and CEO Kurt Carlson said over the summer, they just had a handful of people per day getting tested so the testing site staffed down to 1-1/2 workers.
“This has dramatically increased from us just doing 10 a day to 161 yesterday (Tuesday),” he said, noting that when he drove past the fairgrounds the lines were “long again and snaking through.” The testing site has been authorized to add staff to keep up with testing.
Hours for the fairgrounds testing site will be expanded next week. While it will be closed Monday for Labor Day, going forward the hours for the testing site will be: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Tuesday, noon to 6 p.m.; and Saturday (beginning Sept. 11), 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Hours will be adjusted depending on demand.
“It’s a privilege to serve the community, but it’s disheartening to see this happening again,” Carlson said.
Masking
In the question-and-answer session of the press conference, when asked if there would be any type of “mask mandate” for the city, county and/or city/county employees, Thallemer responded, “I would just say we’re keeping an eye on the numbers, and, obviously, as the weeks progress, we’re probably getting closer to having to make some type of restriction. I can’t fully tell you what that is yet.”
While those people who have been vaccinated helps, he said it becomes a little more difficult when not everyone has been vaccinated.
“So, from a city perspective, we’re certainly considering but have not made any decisions on that,” he said.
Hospitals
What’s the bed capacity at local hospitals if the positive case numbers continue to rise and there’s an increase in hospitalizations? Is there room?
Remington said, “So our hospitals accommodate patients. I can’t quote on behalf of any of the hospitals that are in our immediate region, if they are diverting elective cases right now. That had been a strategy back through the winter. Very thankful for hospitals to do that. I don’t think anybody’s going there very quickly at all this time. So they’re trying to get the usual course of business done, and now comes Delta. It’s tight. But if you need care, go to your local hospital and seek care.”
If a person can remain an out-patient, he said they should start with their primary care resources.
An ABC57 reporter asked a follow-up question: What is being done to help the situation at the hospitals?
Remington, speaking for Kosciusko Community Hospital, said they’re staffing up. “The call is to just get more staff in to help. They’ve been successful with that. If someone is on a gurney in a hall, they try to minimize the length of that. That happens a lot at hospitals periodically,” he said. “We’re kind of feeling that. It’s not just KCH. The other regional hospitals are doing that, too.”
Across the state, some hospitals are diverting care to other hospitals, again.
Public Appetite
With the pandemic at almost 1-1/2 years in, there’s been quite a bit of public pushback to the masking, vaccination, testing, etc. Asked if he was in a more difficult position because the public doesn’t have an “appetite” for what has occurred up to this point, Remington didn’t hold back.
He said he had two or three COVID cases last week. One was a visit with a middle-aged woman who was pretty ill.
“It couldn’t be COVID. Just couldn’t be COVID,” Remington recalled her saying.
Then another case was with a mother and her teenage son who could barely keep his head up he was so ill. He tested positive for COVID.
“It just couldn’t be COVID. It just wasn’t going to be COVID. It can’t be!” he recalled her saying. “That’s the thing that is spooking me. I think ... it’s just not in their calculus anymore. There’s a substantial cohort of the population that, they’re just not going there with a differential diagnosis in their minds. They have to be really smacked up against it, right in their faces.”
The reason he said that, he said, is because those people are out there mixing it up with others “because it wasn’t COVID. It just couldn’t be COVID! And that spooks me a bit, and I think we are going to feel that in our schools here. We already are to some degree from the conversations I’ve been hearing this past week.”
He said it will be a “substantial” issue in the next month.
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