The county’s largest city reached a 70% COVID-19 vaccination rate, which some experts say is herd immunity.
More than 70% of eligible Greenwood’s residents are fully vaccinated. The 46143 zip code has a 72% vaccination rate, while the 46142 zip code surpassed 70% over the weekend, according to the Indiana Department of Health.
Since 54% of the county’s 12 and older population lives in Greenwood, achieving herd immunity is good news for public health, local health officials said.
“It is good news for the county. It means we are moving in the right direction,” said Betsy Swearingen, director of the Johnson County Health Department. “The quicker we reach herd immunity (everywhere), the better off we will be.”
Greenwood is the third local community to hit the 70% vaccination mark. More than 80% of residents in Needham and Bargersville — which achieved herd immunity in June and July, respectively — are fully vaccinated, according to the state health department.
Overall, Johnson County has a 63% vaccination rate, with more than 83,700 residents fully vaccinated. Besides Edinburgh, which has a 45% vaccination rate, other local communities have at least half of their 12 and older population vaccinated.
The statewide vaccination rate is 56%, with more than 3.3 million residents fully vaccinated.
Johnson County is the sixth most vaccinated county in Indiana. Only five counties — Hamilton, Boone, Hendricks, Hancock, Bartholomew and Warrick — have more people per 100,000 vaccinated.
Vaccination sites in the county remain busy. In the last week, the county health department has given 281 vaccinations, including some first doses and Pfizer booster shots.
New individuals are still getting their first doses of the vaccine, whether by choice or by their employer’s order. At the same time, those at risk and health care workers are also getting booster shots, Swearingen said.
The county’s testing site remains busy, too, with 670 tests administered last week, according to health department data. The rate is expected to increase even more following fall break when families return from vacations, she said.
New cases in Johnson County and across the state continue to be low and have been falling for nearly a month from the peak of the delta variant. State totals in the last week have ranged between 1,100 and 3,500, and the county’s totals have ranged between 21 and 84, health department data shows.
Johnson Memorial Health on Tuesday had one COVID-19 patient, but is not be a good barometer for the overall COVID-19 outlook right now, said Dr. David Dunkle, president and CEO. The hospital is still on diversion due to a cyber attack on the hospital’s computer network.
Dunkle expects the hospital will be on diversion for a little while longer, but did not have an estimate when it might end.
“We can’t take care of the same volume of people, so it is hard to open the floodgates so to speak,” Dunkle said. “Even just registering people is a longer process.”
Health care workers are slowed by the hospital’s lack of computer access. For example, the quick push-of-a-button process to send lab results or a radiology report has turned into a walk across the hospital to hand-deliver the results, he said.
In the District 5 hospital census, which Johnson County is a part of, the number of COVID-19 patients had been falling for three weeks, but has risen slightly in the last few days, state data shows.
BY THE NUMBERS
Here is a look at vaccination rates in Johnson County by zip code:
Needham, 46162: 87.6%
Bargersville, 46106: 83.8%
Greenwood, 46143: 72.4%
Greenwood, 46142: 70.2%
Franklin, 46131: 56.5%
Trafalgar, 46181: 52.3%
Nineveh, 46164: 50.3%
Whiteland, 46184: 50.3%
Edinburgh, 46124: 45.5%
Source: Indiana Department of Health
