HANCOCK COUNTY — The county’s moving average of daily COVID-19 cases has been in the low 30s all week, about a third of what it was in early January.
It hasn’t been that low since early November.
Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continue to decline in the county and state following a surge after the holidays. The vaccine campaign, underway now for 50 days, has reached more than 9,000 county residents and has further brightened the outlook on the pandemic.
Officials, however, are repeating their calls to follow the safety measures they’ve been pushing for 11 months as worry continues over emerging new strains of the novel coronavirus.
But leaders are optimistic. Craig Felty, vice president, chief operations officer and chief nursing officer for Hancock Regional Hospital, said he’s pleased with the way cases are trending.
“It’s not too surprising, because we expected that we were going to have a little bit of a wave after the holidays, just because of everyone getting together and stuff like that, so this is a nice little reprieve from that,” Felty said. “We’re back to pretty much where we were before we had these couple surges, if you will; so we’re back to pretty much stable here at the hospital, and we’re just hoping that trend continues.”
The number of COVID-19 patients at the hospital has been declining too. Felty said the daily total has been averaging seven to 12 for the past several weeks, adding seven is the lowest number since the holidays.
Indiana’s COVID-19 hospital census stood at 1,446 early Friday, down from a peak of 3,460 on Nov. 30.
Felty praised those who wear masks and socially distance and attributed their diligence to the falling figures.
“And obviously with having the vaccine out and being able to administer the vaccine is definitely helping, and it’s going to continue to help keep the numbers down,” he added.
One factor that may affect how the county’s COVID-19 cases trend in the future are the variants of the virus, which have been reported to be more contagious, Felty said. While there haven’t been any variant cases at the hospital, the state has reported the presence of the one first detected in the United Kingdom.
“We’re still going to treat people the same way, and we’re hopeful that enough people have started to get immunity from the vaccine or having the illness,” Felty said.
Dr. Kristina Box, Indiana state health officer, earlier this week noted the state’s improving trends in COVID-19 positivity rates, hospitalizations and the county advisory level colors signifying community spread.
“As I’ve cautioned before, these changes do not mean that we are out of the woods,” Box said. “Even as more Hoosiers receive their vaccine, we are still very limited in the number of people we can vaccinate due to national supplies. We will not achieve herd immunity for many months, and the new variants of the virus that are emerging will require us to remain vigilant about masking, social distancing, staying home if you’re ill and getting tested and then following guidelines for isolation and quarantine.”
