New record highs seen locally for COVID-19

Bartholomew County is setting new records for coronavirus cases, according to the Bartholomew County and Columbus COVID-19 Community Task Force.

The county added 68 new positive test cases in the most recent numbers, which is down slightly from weekend highs, but the per capita rate of 92.8 per 100,000 residents and a 23 percent positive test rate are new highs. There are also 43 people hospitalized in Bartholomew County due to COVID-19, also a new high.

The Indiana State Department of Health is reporting 5,218 new cases of COVID-19 in the state as of Monday afternoon’s update. That is a positivity rate of 11.7 percent with 26 more deaths across the state. The number of new cases is down from this weekend, when those topped 8 thousand instances, but still substantially higher than any day before early November.

According to state figures, just over 48 percent of the ICU hospital beds in south central Indiana’s District 8 are available, with 23 percent of the occupied beds being used for COVID-19 patients and almost 29 percent being used for other patients.

Bartholomew, Brown, Johnson, Shelby, Jennings and Jackson counties are all showing high spread of the virus according to the state. Decatur County remains in the severe spread category.