Despite more people being vaccinated against COVID-19 each day, both Warrick and Posey Counties have seen enough of an uptick in cases over the past two weeks to put them both back into yellow status on the state's coronavirus map as of today (Wednesday, April 7th, 2021), and therefore more restrictive guidelines to try and help slow the spread of the virus.

The state Health Department color-codes each county in the state based on two factors, the 7-day positivity rate on all tests administered across the state, and the weekly number of cases per 100,000 residents. Depending on those numbers, the county is given a score that determines what color they will be. A higher score means higher restrictions to try and slow transmission, while a lower score eases those restrictions. For a county's color to change, either way, it must remain at its current color for two weeks. Unfortunately for both Warrick and Posey counties, those two factors have ticked upwards enough over the last two weeks to see their score rise between the yellow status's 1 and 1.5 threshold.

What It Means for Residents

The return to yellow status means both counties revert back to the following, more restrictive guidelines for at least the next two weeks.

  • Social gatherings are recommended to be no more than 100 people
  • Events and social gatherings may take place at up to 50 percent capacity when all other guidelines, including social distancing, face coverings, and plans to mitigate COVID-19 are in place.
    • This includes K-12 extracurricular and co-curricular activities, community recreational sports, and college and professional sports, which should coordinate events with their local health departments.
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Vanderburgh Remains Blue

For now, residents of Vanderburgh County continue to "enjoy" the benefits of being under the least restrictive blue status which means —

  • Social gatherings are recommended to be no more than 250 people
  • Events and social gatherings may take place at up to 100 percent capacity when all other guidelines, including social distancing, face coverings and plans to mitigate COVID-19 are in place.
    • This includes K-12 extracurricular and co-curricular activities, community recreational sports, and college and professional sports, which should coordinate events with their local health departments

With that said, the county's current Weekly 2-Metric Score sits at 0.5, the highest it can go before reverting back to yellow. According to the state health department website, the country reported 30 new cases on Wednesday, up from 10 on Tuesday, and 4 on Monday.  If those numbers continue to trend in the wrong direction, it's entirely possible the county could join Warrick and Posey in returning to yellow status.

Other counties remaining blue in our area are Daviess, Dubois, Knox, Perry, and Pike.

Finding the Right Map

When looking at the state's coronavirus website, there are four different maps you can access. The Weekly 2-Metric Score, the Advisory Level, Weekly Cases per 100,000 residents, and 7-Day All Tests Positivity Rate. You can access each by using the drop-down menu to the left of the state map as illustrated by the red arrow in the photo below. This is important to note because a county could be blue based on the Weekly 2-Metric Score, but yellow on the Advisory Level map since that score is based on two weeks of data.

The map can also be sorted between the entire state, or by district as illustrated by the blue arrow in the photo below. The Evansville area is designated District 10.

(Click image for larger view)

Indiana State Department of Health
Indiana State Department of Health
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[Source: Indiana State Department of Health]

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While much is still unknown about the coronavirus and the future, what is known is that the currently available vaccines have gone through all three trial phases and are safe and effective. It will be necessary for as many Americans as possible to be vaccinated in order to finally return to some level of pre-pandemic normalcy, and hopefully these 30 answers provided here will help readers get vaccinated as soon they are able.

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