Monroe County confirmed 41 COVID-19 cases Tuesday and 17 Monday. Last week, the most cases confirmed in a day was 73.
The 7-day positivity rate is 7.8 percent, up from 7.6 percent Monday.
One new death was added to the county total, bringing it to 226. This month, six COVID-19 deaths have been confirmed in the county. Last month, 17 deaths were confirmed.
In District 8, which includes Monroe, Brown, and Bartholomew counties, hospitalizations increased to 131 Tuesday from 125 Monday. Last Thursday, hospitalizations hit 150. That was the highest since Dec. 29, 2020. Last week, the average number of hospitalizations in the district was 143.
The county re-entered the orange advisory level two weeks ago. Its weekly cases per 100,000 were down to 260 from 279 last week. This number is updated on Wednesdays.
Over the weekend, Indiana reported its first confirmed case of the Omicron variant, which has spread quickly through Europe and been labeled a concern by the World Health Organization.
Graham McKeen, assistant director of public and environmental health at IU, said he expects case rates to increase quickly now that the virus is here, and is concerned primarily for Indiana’s strained health systems and workers.
“I don’t think people need to live in fear, or be extremely concerned about their personal risk if they’ve done all the things they need to do,” he said. “But they need to think about others, and they need to think about the healthcare system and the healthcare workers in Indiana which is literally on the verge of collapse.”
Statewide, every county is in either the orange or red advisory level, indicating higher levels of spread.
The state confirmed 3,805 cases Tuesday and 2,554 Monday. Last week, the lowest number of cases recorded was 2,694 on Monday.
The Indiana Department of Health confirmed 118 COVID-19 deaths Tuesday, and the total since the pandemic began rose to 17,971.
Hospitalizations increased to 3,002 Tuesday from 2,971 Monday. The average number of hospitalizations last week was approximately 3,007. The state’s positivity rate was 13.4 percent.
