The Indiana Department of Health announced Monday that a new strain of the virus that causes COVID-19 has been identified in Indiana through testing at the Department of Health Laboratory and the CDC.
Health officials say it is the same strain identified in the United Kingdom last fall. They report that it does not cause more severe infections, but it is much more easily spread.
State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box encourages residents to wear masks, maintain a social distance, wash hands frequently, and get the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes eligible in an upcoming rollout phase.
In Monday’s report from the Indiana Department of Health, Marshall County saw an increase of 15 new COVID-19 positive cases and Starke County had an increase of nine new cases. Pulaski County did not report any new cases.
In the state, 3,726 additional people tested positive for COVID-19 and another 30 people died from COVID-19. No deaths occurred in the tri-county area, according to the report.
Nearly 194,000 Hoosiers have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and nearly 24,000 have received both doses and are fully vaccinated.
On the school’s coronavirus dashboard on the state’s coronavirus website, there were 1,658 new student positive cases in the state from September 18 to January 8, 375 new teacher positive cases of COVID-19 from October 18 to January 8, and 372 new staff positive cases from October 14 to January 8.
Eastern Pulaski Elementary School reported eight new student cases last week, while Oregon-Davis High School reported less than five new staff COVID-19 cases, West Central High School had less than five new student cases, and North Judson-San Pierre Jr./Sr. High School had less than five new student and teacher cases.
