COVID-19 remains on the decline in Northwest Indiana. Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton, and Jasper counties are coded blue on this week's County Metrics Map from the Indiana Department of Health. That indicates a low community spread, based on the positivity rate and number of cases per capita. Starke and Pulaski counties are in the yellow, indicating a moderate spread.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's separate Community Levels map — which also incorporates hospital admissions and capacity — puts all of those counties in the green, the lowest level for that map.
Seven-day positivity rates are in the single digits throughout Indiana: 2.4 percent in Lake County and 3.6 percent in Porter. In the past 30 days, Lake County has seen more than one thousand new cases and 55 deaths, while Porter County had 574 cases and 18 deaths. Statewide, 559 Hoosiers are hospitalized with COVID, the lowest number since last July.