Shelby County sees one of highest COVID-19 rates in the state

Shelby County now has the highest COVID-19 7-day positivity rate in southern Indiana and the fourth highest in the state.

Shelby County, which turned red on the Indiana State Department of Health color-coded COVID-19 spread map Wednesday, has a 7-day positivity rate of 21.72 percent, higher than any other county in southern Indiana. That’s according to the Thursday afternoon update from the Indiana State Department of Health. The only other counties in the state to top that rate are Parke and Fountain counties in western Indiana with 27.06 and 23.09 percent and Whitley County in northeastern Indiana with 24.18 percent.

Johnson and Jackson counties also remain red on the Indiana map, showing severe spread of the disease. Bartholomew, Decatur, Jennings and Brown counties remain orange showing a serious spread of the disease.

Bartholomew County has a 7-day positivity rate of 12.5 percent with 69 new cases reported and one new death.

Johnson County had three new deaths, and Jennings County reported one new death from the disease.

The state is reporting that southeastern Indiana’s District 8 has 159 people hospitalized, and COVID-19 patients are using just over a third of the intensive care unit beds in the region.

Statewide there were 6,604 new COVID-19 cases yesterday and 96 more deaths. The seven-day all-test positivity rate is just under 14-percent statewide.