System causing COVID number delays; Cloverleaf sees big spike in cases

The Clay County Health Department explained the Dashboard Data at the Indiana State Department of Health is on a separate filing system, which has delayed providing up-to-date information to the public.

“It takes time for the two systems to merge the data,” said Clay County Health Nurse Kim Hyatt, who advises the numbers for long term care facilities in the area will impact the overall county COVID-19 data. “We are starting to see those cases come in on our local case history today.”

On Thursday (Oct.29), the ISDH provided the following information for local nursing home facilities reporting COVID-19 cases (data results for 10-21 to 10-28):

Cloverleaf of Knightsville: Less than 5 cases reported among residents, and 8 cases reported among staff members.

Exceptional Living Center of Brazil: 17 cases were reported among residents, and 21 reported among staff members.

Towne Parke Assisted Living and villas of Holly Brook have not reported any COVID-19 data at this time.

Some of the long-term facilities have posted on social media to inform their COVID-19 data to be transparent.

Cloverleaf Healthcare posted its COVID-19 data on Facebook on October 28:

“To be vigilant, we are frequently conducting a rapid test on employees and Residents. The virus is highly contagious among the vulnerable population and containing it, even with strict infection control protocols, is a challenge once an outbreak occurs. Unfortunately, our results have not been what we had hoped.

“We now have a total of 45 positive Residents and 19 employees who have tested positive for COVID. We have lost one Resident to this awful virus. The 2 Residents and 6 employees who recovered previously give us hope that more recoveries will come. We are expanding our COVID units, as needed, to accommodate any new positive Residents.

“This continues to be a tough battle for the facility, but we will not lose hope for brighter days ahead. We will continue to do all we can to try to stop the spread. Your prayers and support are felt and needed. We are proud of how staff are handling this crisis and remaining Residents First in all they do. We cannot thank you enough for your continued support!”

LOCAL DATA

The ISDH confirms 114 new COVID-19 tests were completed in Clay County since Monday, with 18 new positive cases, bringing the overall total in Clay County to 492 since the beginning of the pandemic in March.

A total of 5,514 unique individuals out of an estimated 26,501 Clay County residents have been tested, with 8,387 tests overall completed. Of the Clay County residents confirmed positive for COVID-19, the ISDH reports that 53.7% were female, 45.7% were male, and .6% were listed as unknown.

The Clay County Health Department confirms three distinctive spikes among the Positive Test Rate results since the first COVID-19 test was reported in March. The first spike reported April 5 at 16.7%, the next August 15 at 12.5%, with the last being October 15 at 13.2%.

The current Positivity Rate for Unique Individuals (new people) tested in Clay County during the past seven days is 12.8%. The Overall Positivity Rate (including all tests performed) for the past seven days is 6.6%.

There have been seven deaths officially reported in Clay County with COVID-19 listed as a factor, the last confirmed on Friday, October 16, 2020.

Some of the data available at the ISDH is being suppressed to protect the identity of the individuals who test positive for COVID-19.

Currently, 2,734,945 tests have been administered throughout the state, with 164,581 positive cases reported. The Positivity rate among all the tests is presently at 6.9%, with 13.3% among unique individuals tested.

On March 6, the ISDH confirmed the first case of COVID-19 in a Hoosier with recent travel.

On March 16, ISDH reported the first death in Indiana due to COVID-19.

On May 18, Indiana confirmed its first case of multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) that has been associated with COVID-19.

On Monday, October 26, 13 new deaths due to COVID-19 were reported in Indiana, with an overall 3,907 deaths confirmed since the beginning of the pandemic 10 months ago.

General questions from the public or healthcare provider inquiries may be directed to the Indiana State Department of Health COVID-19 Call Center at (877) 826-0011 (8 a.m.-5 p.m. daily).