COVID-19 UPDATE: Clay County still in RED, Delta Variant main cause

Indiana State Department of Health - Variant positive cases as of Thursday, August 26, 2021

On Wednesday, the Indiana State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Dashboard changed to show 16 counties are now in RED Advisory Category in the 2-Week Metric Score as the Delta Variant continues to spread across the nation.

Only nine counties are in YELLOW, with the remaining 67 counties in ORANGE(www.coronavirus.in.gov/).

In District 7, Clay, Parke, and Vermillion counties are in RED, with Greene, Putnam, Owen, Sullivan, and Vigo counties in ORANGE.

In Clay County, the total positive cases from March 28, 2020 (date of the first confirmed case locally) to August 24, 2021, is 3,225. Among those positive cases, 55.1% have been female, with the remaining 44.6% male.

Variants: Why should we care?

According to health officials, the SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 is mutating.

Viruses naturally mutate as they multiply to make more virus particles, and new variants are expected over time.

Some variants will die out, while others may persist and become common if they are more easily spread. Variants may also become more resistant to treatments or vaccines.

The current variants of concern include B.1.1.7 (Alpha), B.1.351 (Beta), P.1 (Gamma), B.1.427/1.429 (Epsilon), and B.1.617.2 (Delta).

Public health officials track these variants.

The ISDH works in partnership with other laboratories in Indiana to test a subset of positive samples from different areas of the state from newly hospitalized cases, or those thought to have a second COVID-19 infection or after those tested positive after being vaccinated. These results are reported to local health officials, so they know what is circulating in their communities.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also tracks variant mutations and results from variant testing to inform state and local public health officials how treatments and vaccines may be affected.

Currently available vaccines, according to health officials, are effective against the variants detected in Indiana.

As more people get vaccinated and become immune, communities will have more protection against variants. The virus cannot multiply or mutate in people vaccinated, so variants will not emerge or spread.

As of Thursday, the ISDH reports that 97.6% of the current positive cases in Indiana are from the Delta Variant.