RICHMOND, Ind. — May saw Wayne County’s COVID-19 cases total seven times more than April’s cases.
The Indiana State Department of Health’s update Wednesday showed 262 laboratory-confirmed county cases last month. That number could increase, as well, because the case totals attributed to the month’s final few days are still considered preliminary.
April had just 38 cases.
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The preliminary case total for May 23-29 is 92. That is already a 24.3% increase from the 74 cases recorded May 16-22. The county has now seen case increases six consecutive weeks since recording four cases April 11-17.
If the final total adds eight more cases to the May 23-29 time period, Wayne County would record its first triple-figure case week since recording 104 cases Feb. 14-20.
The rising cases is the opposite from 2021 during May and June. May 2021 saw 136 cases, which was a 29.2% drop from April 2021’s 192 cases. The case total further decreased to 47 during June 2021, a 65.4% drop from April.
May 2020 and June 2020 totaled 95 cases as the COVID-19 pandemic gained momentum after beginning in March 2020.
Overall, Wayne County has had 19,108 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases since the pandemic’s beginning. The county also experienced its 331st death attributed to COVID-19 complications. A woman 80 or older died May 26.
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COVID-19’s current impact also is likely being undersold, according to a Reid Health news release. More residents are using home tests to confirm COVID-19 cases.
“There is a lot of disease that flies under the radar now,” said Thomas Huth, the vice president of medical affairs for Reid Health, in the release. “At-home positive tests are not reported to local or state health departments, so those cases go unrecorded.”
Cases are rising as many precautions prevalent through the pandemic’s first two years have disappeared, treating COVID-19 more like the flu.
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“We run the risk of trivializing it and saying, ‘It’s no big deal. It’s just like getting the cold,'” Huth said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, however, indicates that hospitalizations and deaths are now climbing again in the U.S. Reid’s May 31 update reported six hospitalized COVID-19 patients. That’s the most it has reported since its March 7 update included 12 hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
Wayne County and the surrounding Indiana and Ohio counties continued to be classified at low community levels, which recommends residents are up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations. The CDC reports 33,162 Wayne County residents are fully vaccinated and 15,678 have had a first booster shot.
The overall and death totals for surrounding counties are:
- Darke County: 12,488 positives and 240 deaths;
- Fayette County: 6,787 positives and 139 deaths;
- Henry County: 13,165 positives and 226 deaths;
- Franklin County: 4,414 positives and 55 deaths;
- Preble County: 9,542 positives and 202 deaths;
- Randolph County: 5,947 positives and 145 deaths;
- Union County: 2,043 positives and 20 deaths.
Indiana has recorded 1,735,581 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases and 22,757 COVID-related deaths through Tuesday. The Ohio Department of Health’s weekly update reported 2,763,123 cases and 38,628 deaths May 26.
