12 new COVID-19 cases in Monroe County most on single day since outbreak started

In a press release issued late Wednesday afternoon, Monroe county’s health department said it’s investigating a spike in confirmed COVID-19 cases, after the state’s dashboard, updated every day at noon, showed 12 new cases for the county.

The 12 new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported on Wednesday were logged on June 16, according to the Indiana State Department of Heath’s dashboard. That is the highest number for any single day in Monroe County since the first case was recorded on March 21.

The previous high was 11, on April 9. Since April 22, the 7-day average daily number of confirmed cases in Monroe County has been 2 or fewer cases. The dozen cases reported for June 16 brought that average up to 3.

Five additional deaths were also reported, which took place on June 3, June 11 (two deaths), June 12, and June 14.

According to the press release, the new cases covered a wide range of ages. Half were under and half were over 50 years old. All of those who died were over 60 and were related to long term care facilities, according to the press release.

Testing has been increasing week by week in the county, with the introduction of new testing options.

In the most recent full week of testing, 1,116 tests were done in Monroe County compared to 703 the week before and 653 before that. The most recent full week of tests saw twice as many people test as the week starting May 10.

The overall percentage of positive cases in Monroe County has continued to drop from a high of around 13 percent mid April to around 3.7 percent now. That’s lower than the current statewide positive rate of 11 percent.