HANCOCK COUNTY — Continuing COVID-19 data indicates deaths and cases among Hancock County residents have recently slowed.
But it’s difficult to tell yet whether testing in the county has risen in accordance with its increased availability and officials’ encouragement to do more.
And, just because deaths and cases are going down doesn’t mean people should relax their diligence toward infection prevention, a Hancock County health leader urges.
The Indiana State Department of Health hasn’t recorded a COVID-19 death for Hancock County since May 21, keeping the total at 27 as of Monday, June 1. The department added one fatality on Friday, May 29 before subtracting it the following day due to an error in reporting, the Indiana Joint Information Center told the Daily Reporter in an email.
Hancock County hasn’t seen a double-digit daily increase in COVID-19 cases since May 9. On several days since, no additional cases were reported.
Craig Felty, vice president, chief nursing officer and chief operating officer of Hancock Regional Hospital, said on Friday, May 29, that the hospital was treating one COVID-19 patient and that they were in stable condition. He added the hospital has had “one or two” COVID-19 patients within the last week and a half and estimated the hospital hasn’t needed a ventilator for a COVID-19 patient in more than a month.
“We’re definitely seeing the trend go down,” Felty said.
The hospital has been performing more COVID-19 tests, he continued, adding that increase combined with the decrease in deaths and cases is reassuring. He said the hospital is testing most patients who come in for surgeries and major invasive procedures and estimates the hospital has been doing tests for 20 to 30 of those patients a day.
Felty described volume as down but stable at the triage clinic the hospital set up in Brandywine Plaza at the start of the pandemic.
While reassured by the data, he also remains cautious as restrictions continue to ease and people are able to start interacting more. As he weighs those concerns, he keeps in mind that COVID-19 symptoms can start showing up in an infected person within five to 14 days.
“If we’re going to have increased transmission of the virus from starting to relax the rules and social distancing, then we should be seeing it this week and maybe into next week,” Felty said. “So we’re keeping an eye on that, because that’s going to be important for us.”
To decrease the possibility of transmission, he continues to urge people to wear masks in public, wash their hands often, keep 6 feet from others as much as possible, clean surfaces often and refrain from touching their faces.
“It’s going to be with us forever,” he said of COVID-19. “It’s not going away, so we just need to learn how to control it and live with it.”
Other parts of the country have seen spikes since opening back up again, reminding Felty it’s possible in Hancock County too.
“As long as it’s not a deluge of patients, our health care system can handle it,” he said.
First Care’s clinic in Greenfield has been offering curbside COVID-19 tests since mid-April. Sabrina Briggs, medical director and director of clinical quality for First Care, said the clinic has performed about 600 tests in the city.
As of May 28, OptumServe Health Services’ COVID-19 testing site at the Indiana National Guard Armory in Greenfield had performed 659 tests since opening on May 13, according to the state department of health. That site is part of a campaign to expand testing across the state, including to those without COVID-19 symptoms.
It’s not yet clear whether the increased testing availability has led to more testing in the county, however.
The state had tallied a total of 3,652 COVID-19 tests for Hancock County as of June 1. While that included 54 new tests, they spanned from May 23 to May 30. The state department of health’s online COVID-19 dashboard explains that “Test date refers to the earliest date a test was performed. If that information is unavailable, the date the test was reported to ISDH is used.”
Testing metrics for Hancock County on the state’s dashboard indicate a downward trend from a peak on May 18, but more testing data is added as it’s received. The Indiana Joint Information Center told the Daily Reporter in an email that “There can be lag time between between when a private lab performs a test and when those test results are received by ISDH.”
Hotline still hot
Calls to Hancock Regional Hospital’s COVID-19 hotline have remained steady, said Dr. Margaret Fitzsimmons, whose duties for the hospital include serving as medical director for the hotline and the respiratory triage clinic in Brandywine Plaza. She said the hotline has been getting between 30 to almost 80 calls a day for the past couple weeks.
Many calls have to do with testing, Fitzsimmons continued, including where to have it done and how to go about it if there’s been a COVID-19 exposure at a caller’s place of work.
She added other callers are calling in to talk about symptoms they may be having, allowing operators to triage them to either the respiratory clinic, their primary care physician or emergency room. Some calls have to do with how to use personal protective equipment. Others seek to make sense of COVID-19 directives given by employers, or lack thereof.
Calls have come in from not only Hancock County, Fitzsimmons said, but also Hamilton, Rush, Shelby, Madison, Johnson, Marion and Henry counties.
“The COVID hotline is a great community resource for the public, and if they’re not sure what to do, I would always encourage them to call their own physician, but if they don’t have a physician or if they’re asymptomatic and just want some general information, the COVID hotline is a great resource,” she said.
The hotline’s number is 317-325-COVD (2683) and it’s available from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.
Antibody testing available
Fitzsimmons also said that the hospital is offering antibody tests to health care workers and first responders, as well as patients if they have a doctor’s order.
Antibody tests determine if a patient had a previous COVID-19 infection, but their reliability has been called into question.
Fitzsimmons said the nasal swabs used to determine if a patient is currently infected with COVID-19 aren’t always 100% reliable either, adding they can have up to a 30% false-negative rate.
Plenty of factors come into play, she continued. How far into the illness is the patient? Was enough material collected on the swab? If not, a test result could come back negative when the patient is actually positive. Fitzsimmons said health care workers have to apply good clinical judgment throughout the testing process to determine a diagnosis. She added oftentimes when an antibody test is combined with a nasal swab, it provides a stronger chance of accurate results.
First Care now offers COVID-19 antibody testing at all of its locations, including Greenfield. Patients who get one will have their symptoms examined and a blood test conducted in the clinic, according to a news release from the clinic chain. Results come back within 72 hours. A nasal swab test may also be conducted to determine if an infection is still active.
Briggs told the Daily Reporter that First Care’s COVID-19 antibody tests are provided by Quest Diagnostics, a global clinical laboratory company based in Secaucus, New Jersey.
First Care is offering the antibody tests at no cost to insured and uninsured patients, according to the release, which adds that for a limited time, COVID-19 testing and related office visits are currently free to patients under most insurance plans. The clinics accept Medicare, Medicaid and most insurance plans. Most plans have waived copays, so First Care will not collect anything from insured patients getting tested. If patients are uninsured, First Care will enroll them in the Health Resources and Services Administration Uninsured Program for full coverage of their visit.
Patients can schedule appointments at firstcareclinics.com. The Greenfield clinic is located at 1317 N. State St. and can be reached at 317-967-2167.
Conditions improve at long-term care facility
At Greenfield Healthcare Center, 58 residents were known to have had COVID-19, 18 of whom have died from the disease, according to data provided by the Hancock County Health Department on May 29.
Fred Stratmann, a spokesman for the CommuniCare Family of Companies, of which Greenfield Healthcare Center is a part, said on May 29 that the facility had 14 residents in its COVID-19 unit, down from 20 on May 20. He added 23 tests were pending. One employee is out with COVID-19, down from five Stratmann on May 20.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”By the numbers” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
COVID-19 data
Hancock County
- 340 cases
- 27 deaths
- 3,652 tests
- 3 new positive cases between May 30 and may 31
- 0 new deaths
- 54 new tests between May 23 and May 30
Indiana
- 34,830 cases
- 1,976 deaths
- 265,896 tests
- 292 new positive cases between May 30 and May 31
- 9 new deaths between May 17 and May 31
- 4,413 new tests between April 24 and May 31
- 40.9% available ICU beds
- 14.5% ICU beds in use – COVID
- 44.7% ICU beds in use – non-COVID
- 83.7% available ventilators
- 4.8%ventilators in use – COVID
- 11.5% ventilators in use – non-COVID
Source: Indiana State Department of Health
[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”By the numbers” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Hancock County COVID-19 demographics
Cases
Age
- 0-19: 3.5%
- 20-29: 9.7%
- 30-39: 12.9%
- 40-49: 17.4%
- 50-59: 18.5%
- 60-69: 14.4%
- 70-79: 10%
- 80+: 13.5%
Gender
- Female: 54.4%
- Male: 45%
- Unknown: 0.6%
Race
- White: 64.1%
- Black or African American: 6.2%
- Asian: 0.9%
- Other: 5.6%
- Unknown: 23.2%
Ethnicity
- Not Hispanic or Latino: 35.3%
- Hispanic or Latino: 1.2%
- Unknown: 63.5%
Deaths
Age
- 50-59: 3.7%
- 60-69: 11.1%
- 70-79: 14.8%
- 80+: 70.4%
Gender
- Female: 51.9%
- Male: 48.1%
Race
- White: 96.3%
- Black or African American: 0%
- Asian: 0%
- Other: 3.7
- Unknown: 0%
Ethnicity
- Not Hispanic or Latino: 63%
- Hispanic or Latino: 0%
- Unknown: 37%
Tested
Age
- 0-19: 5.3%
- 20-29: 11.9%
- 30-39: 16.3%
- 40-49: 15.7%
- 50-59: 18.9%
- 60-69: 14.4%
- 70-79: 10.7%
- 80+: 6.7%
Gender
- Female: 59.4%
- Male: 39.6%
- Unknown: 1%
No race or ethnicity data available for tests
Source: Indiana State Department of Health
[sc:pullout-text-end]
