Jump in COVID deaths reflects nursing home statistics
Since Nov. 30, Brown County Health & Living Community has lost 19 residents to COVID-19.
On Jan. 6, the Indiana State Department of Health added 17 deaths to Brown County’s previous total of 10, bringing our total to 27.
Those 17, however, were not all “new” deaths; they had occurred over several weeks starting Nov. 30, and they were all of nursing home residents, said ISDH spokesperson Megan Wade-Taxter. “(They) were deaths that had occurred previously but had not been reported,” she said.
Of our county’s 28 total deaths due to COVID-19, at least seven were not nursing home residents.
Brown County Health & Living Community has been updating residents’ families daily of COVID activity in the building through a webpage, https://cardon.us/bcupdate.
As of Jan. 8, the facility was reporting that five residents had tested positive in the past 24 hours and 19 had been confirmed positive in the past 14 days.
Out of 82 residents, 27 were COVID-positive, 58 had recovered, and 19 residents had died either at the facility or a hospital, the site update said. It’s unclear if residents could be listed in more than one category or if the population has changed over time, because adding 27 and 58 equals 85 — more than the current number of residents listed.
The site said that of BCH&L’s 107 total “associates” (staff), none were positive for COVID-19 as of Jan. 8.
Questions sent to the BCH&L administrator about the data were not answered by press time.
The Indiana State Department of Health also maintains a long-term care facility page on its coronavirus website, coronavirus.in.gov. Its data is lagged by at least a week. When the site was updated on Jan. 6, it showed that 40 staff at BCH&L had tested positive total, the most recent on Dec. 20 (three people). However, the site also says that the “results are as of 12/30.”
Among BCH&L residents, the ISDH coronavirus site said that 52 had tested positive and there were fewer than five resident deaths, but, again, data updates are lagged by at least a week, if not two.
Another school goes all-virtual due to COVID
Only one Brown County school — Van Buren Elementary — has been able to stay on “green,” in-person status since August because of the spread of COVID-19 cases, symptoms or close contacts.
The evening of Jan. 7, Helmsburg Elementary went directly to “red” status from green because of the percentage of students or staff out due to close contacts with someone with COVID. The threshold to move to red is 20 percent absent. Under red status, students do assignments at home only.
Sprunica Elementary experienced a similar situation right before winter break, and Brown County Intermediate School, the junior high and high school all had adjusted to schedule shifts earlier in the fall.
Helmsburg students were to go back to green on Wednesday, Jan. 13 if no more positive cases were identified in the building.
As of Jan. 8, these were the statuses of all the schools:
Helmsburg: red status; 21 percent absent; 1 percent with symptoms; 1 positive case
Sprunica: green status; 3.6 percent absent; 1.2 percent with symptoms; 2 positive cases
Van Buren: green status; 5.8 percent absent; 2.7 percent with symptoms; 1 positive case
BCIS: green status; 4.5 percent absent; 2.4 percent with symptoms; 0 positive cases
BCJHS: yellow status; 5 percent absent; 1.2 percent with symptoms; 0 positive cases
BCHS: yellow status; 4.4 percent absent; 1 percent with symptoms; 1 positive case
School COVID data can be viewed at browncountyschools.com/covid-19-updates under “daily metric report.”
By Jan. 11, Brown County’s total COVID-19 cases since March numbered 828 and total deaths were at 28. Eighty-nine of those positive cases have been reported since New Year’s Eve.
For the eighth straight week, on Jan. 6 the Indiana State Department of Health put Brown County under “red” restrictions — the highest level — based on community spread of the virus.
Under red restrictions, no gatherings are to take place of more than 25 people and they aren’t advised to happen at all.
Regardless of what a county’s color code is, throughout public places in Indiana it’s still required that you wear a face covering and keep a distance of at least six feet between yourself and someone not in your household.
