8% Of KC Residents Being Tested For COVID-19 Are Positive
July 30, 2020 at 12:20 a.m.
By David [email protected]
The video, produced by the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce, shows local community and business leaders and others stating why they wear their face masks. It is available to be seen and shared on the Chamber’s Facebook page and also will be on the city of Warsaw’s Facebook page.
After the video played, Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer noted the mask mandate has been implemented in City Hall and said, “I think the mask mandate is a common-sense plea for all of us just to be socially responsible. Basically, use science to fight the spread of COVID.”
In talking with the health department earlier in the week, he said the local infection rate is just over 8%, “which means that those that are being tested, 8% are showing a positive. I believe our state goal is 5%, that’s what they’re trying to get this down to. It seems to me that there’s a measurable goal.”
Thallemer said if people can wear masks, practice good hygiene and keep socially distancing, “I think we can lower that rate. It’s been shown that we can lower that rate.”
The bottom line, he said, is that no one wants to go back to shutdowns, all the restrictions and stay-at-home orders.
“I think the mask is probably the most effective way that we can keep this economy moving, and it’s not easy. It’s not anything we thought we’d be doing, but again we’re at a point where the numbers are going up and we don’t want to go back to that stay-at-home and shutdowns,” Thallemer said.
He then re-emphasized last week’s discussion on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s change in protocol regarding testing.
“They don’t want testing to be a strategy if people go back to work. And I think an important part of that is, hopefully, our employers will understand that as long as their employees follow protocol – I think it’s 10 days on a mild case ... and if there’s a moderate or severe case, the CDC is recommending 20 days beyond the onset of symptoms – that’s what the CDC is recommending as a back-to-work strategy and not more testing,” Thallemer said.
As for testing, the free drive-thru state testing at the west end parking lot of Central Park is in week three. Almost 170 COVID tests were performed Tuesday, Thallemer said, and had been averaging about 200 a day for the first couple of weeks. The state testing is expected to be there until Aug. 8.
The city and county have used CARES Act funding to pay for county residents to get tested at MedStat. Last week, Thallemer said MedStat had difficulty with materials and lab capacity. In talking with a representative from MedStat Tuesday, Thallemer said MedStat has resumed its drive-up testing, which people can register for online at medstatonline.com.
“They have increased their turnaround time. She told me yesterday that six to 10 days is what they’re telling their folks. I know, previously, it was five to seven days. So the labs are still overwhelmed,” Thallemer said. “She also wanted me to pass along that the state is doing on-demand testing. Our CARES Act testing is not on-demand; it’s for people who feel they have been exposed or have symptoms.”
MedStat also will continue to see children under 12 years old, while a person has to be over 12 for the state testing.
Kosciusko County Public Health Officer Dr. William Remington said the county continues to see growth “in absolute numbers of confirmed cases. We expected that with the surge of testing, thanks to the State Department of Health’s pop-up site at Center Lake Park.”
He said one of the metrics to follow is the percent positivity statistic, which Thallemer referred to in his comments.
“Perhaps even more germaine is the seven-day moving average of that,” Remington said.
He said he went back historically to see where the county has been on that.
Citing statistics, Remington said it was late March when Kosciusko had its first case. A month later, it had 23 confirmed cases with a seven-day moving average of 15 tests per day.
“Our seven-day moving average positivity was around 7.5% State of Indiana at that time had an 18% positivity,” he said.
Going month by month after that, Remington said in late May, right before Memorial Day, the county had 68 confirmed cases with a seven-day moving test per-day average doubled at about 37 with a positivity of 9.7%
“That’s a significant incremental change. We were starting to feel it at the end of May there. The state’s average was 8.7%, so they were cooling off a little bit at that point and we were just warming up,” he said.
Testing volume in the county increased, so by late June the county had almost 400 confirmed cases with about 133 tests done per day. Percent positive was 8.5%, with the state down to 4.5%.
As of last week, Kosciusko had 710 confirmed cases with the seven-day testing average at 144. This week, testing average is closer to 200.
“Our average percent positive is now at 7.8%, the state at 6.8%. So we would like to get under 6%,” Remington said. “That seven-day moving positivity is a metric that you sense is being watched a lot. There are several metrics to watch, but that in addition to hospitalizations and deaths, turns out to be one to really watch.”
He said if a county is behind on testing or undertested, that percentage can be falsely high. “But once your testing becomes robust, and that percentage drops, then any incremental increase you see in that number is respectable as a real COVID issue in your community. That is you’re seeing more cases, it’s not just a testing phenomenon. And we know that so we are doing more testing, but we are seeing more cases in the last month,” Remington said.
The county is “not out of the woods yet,” but is holding its own in the county, he said. Hospitals are not swamped.
“I greatly appreciate the governor’s willingness to stick his neck out and make a mask mandate. And I, personally, fully support it,” Remington said. “We don’t have too many arrows in the quiver to use with this pandemic. We don’t have a drug to throw around or a vaccine to throw around. We certainly don’t want to lock things down again if we can help it, so the one arrow you can pull out of the quiver that’s the least offensive, as contentious as it is, is the mask mandate. It was the time to do it.”
He stated, “Wear a mask! As the mayor greatly articulated it, it makes a difference.”
While Remington was speaking, Thallemer received a text from the health department office that the state has addressed antigen testing, which detect the presence of viral proteins in a biological sample.
Remington said he personally lobbied the state for that testing, and the state “warmed up” to that Tuesday. He said an antigen test is an example of a point-of-care test and has rapid results.
“We have one rapid test available in the community that I know of and that is at Physicians Urgent Care by Kohl’s,” he said. The antigen test has been contentious nationally. “I personally have felt we needed it. We need more ammo in our belts for testing. So here comes now a rapid turnaround test of a different breed, an antigen test. ... We’re going to need that. That’s good.”
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The video, produced by the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce, shows local community and business leaders and others stating why they wear their face masks. It is available to be seen and shared on the Chamber’s Facebook page and also will be on the city of Warsaw’s Facebook page.
After the video played, Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer noted the mask mandate has been implemented in City Hall and said, “I think the mask mandate is a common-sense plea for all of us just to be socially responsible. Basically, use science to fight the spread of COVID.”
In talking with the health department earlier in the week, he said the local infection rate is just over 8%, “which means that those that are being tested, 8% are showing a positive. I believe our state goal is 5%, that’s what they’re trying to get this down to. It seems to me that there’s a measurable goal.”
Thallemer said if people can wear masks, practice good hygiene and keep socially distancing, “I think we can lower that rate. It’s been shown that we can lower that rate.”
The bottom line, he said, is that no one wants to go back to shutdowns, all the restrictions and stay-at-home orders.
“I think the mask is probably the most effective way that we can keep this economy moving, and it’s not easy. It’s not anything we thought we’d be doing, but again we’re at a point where the numbers are going up and we don’t want to go back to that stay-at-home and shutdowns,” Thallemer said.
He then re-emphasized last week’s discussion on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s change in protocol regarding testing.
“They don’t want testing to be a strategy if people go back to work. And I think an important part of that is, hopefully, our employers will understand that as long as their employees follow protocol – I think it’s 10 days on a mild case ... and if there’s a moderate or severe case, the CDC is recommending 20 days beyond the onset of symptoms – that’s what the CDC is recommending as a back-to-work strategy and not more testing,” Thallemer said.
As for testing, the free drive-thru state testing at the west end parking lot of Central Park is in week three. Almost 170 COVID tests were performed Tuesday, Thallemer said, and had been averaging about 200 a day for the first couple of weeks. The state testing is expected to be there until Aug. 8.
The city and county have used CARES Act funding to pay for county residents to get tested at MedStat. Last week, Thallemer said MedStat had difficulty with materials and lab capacity. In talking with a representative from MedStat Tuesday, Thallemer said MedStat has resumed its drive-up testing, which people can register for online at medstatonline.com.
“They have increased their turnaround time. She told me yesterday that six to 10 days is what they’re telling their folks. I know, previously, it was five to seven days. So the labs are still overwhelmed,” Thallemer said. “She also wanted me to pass along that the state is doing on-demand testing. Our CARES Act testing is not on-demand; it’s for people who feel they have been exposed or have symptoms.”
MedStat also will continue to see children under 12 years old, while a person has to be over 12 for the state testing.
Kosciusko County Public Health Officer Dr. William Remington said the county continues to see growth “in absolute numbers of confirmed cases. We expected that with the surge of testing, thanks to the State Department of Health’s pop-up site at Center Lake Park.”
He said one of the metrics to follow is the percent positivity statistic, which Thallemer referred to in his comments.
“Perhaps even more germaine is the seven-day moving average of that,” Remington said.
He said he went back historically to see where the county has been on that.
Citing statistics, Remington said it was late March when Kosciusko had its first case. A month later, it had 23 confirmed cases with a seven-day moving average of 15 tests per day.
“Our seven-day moving average positivity was around 7.5% State of Indiana at that time had an 18% positivity,” he said.
Going month by month after that, Remington said in late May, right before Memorial Day, the county had 68 confirmed cases with a seven-day moving test per-day average doubled at about 37 with a positivity of 9.7%
“That’s a significant incremental change. We were starting to feel it at the end of May there. The state’s average was 8.7%, so they were cooling off a little bit at that point and we were just warming up,” he said.
Testing volume in the county increased, so by late June the county had almost 400 confirmed cases with about 133 tests done per day. Percent positive was 8.5%, with the state down to 4.5%.
As of last week, Kosciusko had 710 confirmed cases with the seven-day testing average at 144. This week, testing average is closer to 200.
“Our average percent positive is now at 7.8%, the state at 6.8%. So we would like to get under 6%,” Remington said. “That seven-day moving positivity is a metric that you sense is being watched a lot. There are several metrics to watch, but that in addition to hospitalizations and deaths, turns out to be one to really watch.”
He said if a county is behind on testing or undertested, that percentage can be falsely high. “But once your testing becomes robust, and that percentage drops, then any incremental increase you see in that number is respectable as a real COVID issue in your community. That is you’re seeing more cases, it’s not just a testing phenomenon. And we know that so we are doing more testing, but we are seeing more cases in the last month,” Remington said.
The county is “not out of the woods yet,” but is holding its own in the county, he said. Hospitals are not swamped.
“I greatly appreciate the governor’s willingness to stick his neck out and make a mask mandate. And I, personally, fully support it,” Remington said. “We don’t have too many arrows in the quiver to use with this pandemic. We don’t have a drug to throw around or a vaccine to throw around. We certainly don’t want to lock things down again if we can help it, so the one arrow you can pull out of the quiver that’s the least offensive, as contentious as it is, is the mask mandate. It was the time to do it.”
He stated, “Wear a mask! As the mayor greatly articulated it, it makes a difference.”
While Remington was speaking, Thallemer received a text from the health department office that the state has addressed antigen testing, which detect the presence of viral proteins in a biological sample.
Remington said he personally lobbied the state for that testing, and the state “warmed up” to that Tuesday. He said an antigen test is an example of a point-of-care test and has rapid results.
“We have one rapid test available in the community that I know of and that is at Physicians Urgent Care by Kohl’s,” he said. The antigen test has been contentious nationally. “I personally have felt we needed it. We need more ammo in our belts for testing. So here comes now a rapid turnaround test of a different breed, an antigen test. ... We’re going to need that. That’s good.”
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