Pulaski County’s COVID-19 situation is getting bad, according to Terri Hansen with the Pulaski County Health Department. “Things are actually really getting out of hand, I guess, to say right now,” Hansen told the county commissioners Tuesday. “As of today, we’ve had 1,466 cases in the county. We are currently at a metric of 2.5. We’re in the orange, and we are this close to going in the red.”
Hansen said more and more kids are in quarantine, leading parents to voice their concerns to the health department. “We can’t control what’s going on at the schools,” she said. “They made their own decision not to mask. We can’t force them to do that, but because they’re not masking, now their kids have to quarantine. We’re having huge amounts of kids in quarantine, and so that’s causing a lot of issues, too. We can’t stop that. We just wanted to let you guys know; it is really, really affecting everyone.”
The surge is hitting Pulaski Memorial Hospital. Hospital communications director Brian Ledley said the emergency room has had to deal with 70 COVID-19-positive patients in the past two weeks. “And it’s not just COVID patients,” he added, “so again, if you’re struggling with other ailments, if you’re having a heart attack, if you’re having a stroke, our ER is full, and it’s causing problems.”
Now, county officials are considering whether to require masks in public buildings. Ledley told the commissioners that he doesn’t think anything should be off the table at this point. “The governor has left it up to local officials to sort of make those judgment calls, so I think the conversation probably needs to be had,” he said.
The issue is expected to be discussed during an incident management team meeting next Tuesday.
In the meantime, Hansen said the health department’s weekly vaccination clinics are booked solid, and Ledley said Pulaski Memorial Hospital continues to offer the vaccine at its Winamac and North Judson clinics. Hansen said the Indiana Department of Health will offer a drive-through testing and vaccination clinic this Friday and Saturday from noon to 8:00 p.m. at the Winamac Knights of Columbus.
She also asked the commissioners about funding availability to step up vaccination efforts, as the health department prepares to administer booster shots once they’re available.
Hansen said 35 Pulaski County residents who were fully vaccinated have since tested positive. She said that, typically, those individuals don’t get as sick, but they can still transmit the disease to others.
