County sees small COVID increase

There have now been 438 diagnosed cases of COVID-19 in Putnam County since March, the Indiana State Department of Health reported Thursday.

The news has been good in recent days for the four county school corporations as well as DePauw University.

There have still been no new diagnoses in county schools since the first week of school, with a total of three in Cloverdale and one at North Putnam, according to the Putnam County Health Department.

Meanwhile, DePauw self-reported six cases on Sunday, but non since then. The university has now issued a total of 983 tests in the campus community since students returned, with only the six positive tests.

Things have also slowed at Putnamville Correctional Facility, where five offenders have tested positive since Monday, for a total of 177 offenders that have been diagnosed.

One piece of good news at Putnamville is the number of offenders who have recovered, which had climbed to 49 as of noon on Thursday.

The number had stood at 36 since a spring outbreak, but the 13 new recoveries appear to represent some of the offenders who began coming down with the illness in early August.

At Putnamville, 515 offenders remain in quarantine for possible exposure to COVID-19. Meanwhile, 249 others are in isolation, either with the disease or possibly suffering from it.

A total of 21 Putnamville staff members have tested positive, 15 of whom have recovered.