Cass County’s COVID-19 outbreak continues. The spike pushed Indiana to its largest single-day increase in positive cases yet Monday, according to Family and Social Services Administration Chief Medical Officer Dr. Dan Rusyniak.
“Now the majority of these cases are related to an outbreak of COVID in Cass County at a Tyson meatpacking plant,” he said during state officials’ COVID-19 briefing Monday, “and we know about these because with our strike teams, when we hear about potential outbreaks, we have the ability, as we did here, to go and test everyone in that facility.”
The number of COVID-19 cases in Cass County more than tripled over the weekend, with 1,025 reported as of Monday morning. That’s the third-highest count in the state, and by far the most cases per capita.
Rusyniak said outbreaks can be expected during a pandemic, and the key is to be able to identify them early. “In part, what we’re seeing in Cass County is the result of having a rapid strike team and targeted testing, and we know that we’re going to see this because they’re designed for us to find outbreaks early, so that we get in, identify all the folks, and then able to appropriately isolate those folks so that we don’t get more communal spread,” Rusyniak explained.
FSSA Secretary Dr. Jennifer Sullivan added that so far, hospitals appear to have the capacity to handle the surge. “We have not seen numbers move out of phase two, which is what we call our surge phase when you’re still within the halls of the hospital itself and not moving out into different alternative care spaces, and that’s because of the preplanning that’s been done at the regional level,” she said.
The outbreak and subsequent closure of the meatpacking plant has also created challenges for farmers across the state and beyond.
