(La Porte County, IN) - COVID-19 cases are going up locally.

The positivity rate here had dropped to a low of slightly more than one percent in recent weeks. However, according to the Indiana State Department of Health, that number has increased to over five percent of people tested over the past seven days testing positive in La Porte County. 

In St. Joseph, Porter and Starke counties, the positivity rates are below four percent, according to the ISDH. Sandra Deausy, La Porte County Health Officer, said, “This is turning into a pandemic of the unvaccinated." 

Deausy said 98-percent of new cases statewide are in people who have not been vaccinated. She also said the chances of winding up in the hospital are 80 times higher in people not fully immunized against the virus.