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Marion County enters red category as Indiana COVID-19 map worsens again – IndyStar

By inbongpark

Posted on 1 week ago

5 min read

Ethan May

| Indianapolis Star

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After getting the COVID-19 vaccine, seniors looking forward to getting out again

Marion County Public Health Dept. vaccine clinics open. People 80 years old and over can now register for an appointment to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Kelly Wilkinson, kelly.wilkinson@indystar.com

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All but 15 of Indiana’s 92 counties will face the state’s strictest COVID-19 restrictions following the most recent update of the state health department’s map.

The Indiana State Department of Health’s weekly refresh of its color-coded map that determines restrictions shows COVID-19 continues to spread around the state. In all, 77 counties will face Gov. Eric Holcomb’s strictest rules after falling into the red advisory level. That’s 12 more than last week.

Marion County, which had remained in the orange category for moderate to high spread in recent weeks, is now in red along with all of its surrounding counties. Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett and county health leaders have consistently chosen stricter rules throughout the pandemic, already limiting social gatherings on their own.

Daily numbers: How to read Indiana’s coronavirus dashboard

In addition to the advisory level that determines restrictions, the state health department shows each county’s weekly score. That metric is more current; however, a county must have a lower county score for two consecutive weeks before moving down in restrictions.

For this reason, four counties will see red restrictions despite having an orange weekly score. Those counties are Benton, Floyd, Pulaski and Starke.

The weekly score shows 19 counties in orange for moderate to high spread and 73 counties in red for high spread. Like last week, no counties are in the lower blue or yellow categories. No counties have seen minimal spread, the blue category, since at least mid-November.

Sixteen counties saw their weekly score move from orange to red over the past week.

Here’s what color each Indiana county is categorized in based on advisory level, which determines restrictions:

These county color categorizations by advisory level are accurate as of Wednesday, Jan. 13.