After viewing the video updated Tuesday, posted by Fishers Health Department Epidemiologist Josh Robinson, I had to do a double-take in order to ensure the numbers were correct.

Over the most recent 2-week period, Fishers has seen a 62% decrease in the number of COVID cases reported among the city’s population.  That includes  a 51% decrease over the most recent week measured by the Health Department.

I thought about how proud Mayor Scott Fadness was about the vaccination rates in the city and wondered if that had any impact on those eye-popping decreases in Fishers COVID cases?  After all, among adults over 18 in Fishers, the vaccination rate is somewhere around 80% at last report.

So, when I asked Mayor Fadness how the vaccination program impacts the reduction in cases, he gave me an answer of “yes and no.”

“In full honesty, I think it had a lot do with the Omicron variant and how quickly it moves in and moves out,” Fadness said.  “What I would really attribute, or credit, our vaccination program for is the death rate, the hospitalization rate in our community, (which) has been very low.”

Most of those testing positive for COVID lately had the Omicron variant and were unvaccinated, and those vaccinated and boosted that tested positive had mild symptoms, according to the mayor.

COVID positive tests are trending downward in the area, with Hamilton County seeing a 29% decrease over the most recent week measured, and the entire state of Indiana saw its first decrease during the same time period of 28%