The Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) says more than half of the state’s 92 counties are now identified as higher-risk areas for COVID-19.  This is the most since the state started its rating systems, last month.

On a three-point scale, counties with scores of 2 to 3 are considered “higher risk.”  A score of three represents the most hazardous coronavirus circumstances. Counties with that score are designated red on a four-color map.  Counties with a 2.0 or a 2.5 rating are labeled orange, still possessing high-risk conditions.  Lower-risk, yellow-coded counties score 1.0 or 1.5, and counties scoring under a 1.0 are coded blue. (See attached ISDH map.)

In the IPR listening area, Fayette County has a 3 rating and is one of three red counties in the state. Grant County has a 2.5 score. Delaware County is, for now, a 2, down from 2.5, and is still in the orange severity range. Elsewhere in the listening area, Henry, Wayne, Randolph, Blackford, and Huntington counties also have a score of 2 on the health department’s 3-point scale of severity. Madison County has a score of 1.5, in the yellow classification, along with Hamilton, Hancock, Howard, Tipton, and Marion Counties.

Indiana reported its third-highest, daily, number of new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, at 2,597. 33 new deaths were recorded, bringing the state’s pandemic death toll to 3,991. Delaware County, meanwhile, reported 43 new cases, Wednesday, and two new deaths. Here at Ball State, an estimated 35 students and 11 employees have active COVID-19 cases.