Indiana County COVID-19 report

The Department of Health reported 10 hospitalized COVID patients on Oct. 12 with none in the ICU. There was one death in the county bringing the total to 382.

Wastewater surveillance for Oct. 2-8 shows a sustained presence of COVID-19.

The CDC reported on Oct. 6 shows that the community risk level for the region region has improved. The risk level for Indiana and Cambria counties has improved to low risk. Most counties in the region are now low risk including Allegheny, Armstrong, Butler, Westmoreland, Blair, Bedford and Somerset. Elk County is the exception with the risk level elevated to high risk.

VACCINE DATA

Indiana County is seeing very little increase in vaccinations as vaccine hesitancy continues to be an issue. As reported by the DOH on Wednesday, the county continues to be one of the lowest in the state in the percentage of population vaccinated, ranking 58 of 67 counties with 45.2 percent of the population fully vaccinated. The vaccination rate continues to be the lowest among the younger population with 80.5 percent of those age 5-19 unvaccinated. There has been little or no vaccinations for this younger age group over the past eight months. Data for young adults over the last week shows that there were no vaccinations administered to those ages 5-19 and one administered for the age group 20-24. There were no vaccinations reported for ages 0-4.

The percentage of the population getting the booster vaccine remains low with only 23.1 percent having received the first booster, five percent have received the second booster. There were a total of 19,421 first boosters administered since it became available on Aug. 13, 2021 and 4,233 second boosters administered since it became available on March 29, 2022 and 3,439 Bivalent boosters administered since Sept. 2, 2022.

Source: This report is compiled by Ron Riley for The Indiana Gazette with data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the CDC.