Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowHospitalizations due to COVID-19 in Indiana have jumped past the 3,000 mark, their highest level in almost a year, according to the latest figures from the Indiana State Department of Health.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, the department reported another 90 deaths from COVID-19, raising the total death toll to 17,562. The seven-day average of deaths from COVID rose from 20 to 28 per day.
The department said reported COVID hospitalizations rose from 2,934 on Sunday to 3,020 on Monday. That’s the highest mark since Dec. 22, when hospitalizations reached 3,123. The pandemic high was 3,460 on Nov. 20, 2020.
Hospitalizations from COVID have climbed 30% since Dec. 1 and 126% over the past month.
COVID patients now occupy 32.9% of Indiana’s intensive care unit beds.
The department also reported 4,057 new cases of COVID, up from 3,005 the previous day. The seven-day moving average of cases is at 4,510 per day.
No new cases of the new Omicron variant have yet to be officially reported in Indiana. The state said 96.1% of samples tested this month for variant have been the Delta variant. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday said the omicron variant is rapidly spreading in the United States and could peak in a massive wave of infections as soon as January, according to new modeling.
At such a pace, the highly mutated variant of the coronavirus could ratchet up pressure on a health system already strained in many places as the delta variant continues its own late-autumn surge.
More than 3.5 million Hoosiers had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Tuesday at 5 a.m. after a daily increase of 4,669. More than 1 million Hoosiers have gotten vaccine boosters.
The department said 60.9% of Indiana residents 18 and older are fully vaccinated.
COVID-19 cases
*New COVID-19 cases: 4,057
Total cumulative cases: 1,166,283
COVID-19 deaths
New deaths: 90
Total cumulative deaths: 17,562
COVID-19 testing
New tested individuals: 5,793
Total cumulative tested individuals: 4,632,833
Cumulative positivity rate unique individuals: 25%
Cumulative positivity rate all tests: 8.8%
Seven-day positivity rate unique individuals: 26.6%**
Seven-day positivity rate all tests: 14.3%**
** The health department reports the 7-day positivity rates with a six-day lag to allow time for more comprehensive results.
County numbers
Marion County cumulative cases: 150,483 (increase of 462)
Marion County new deaths: 7
Marion County cumulative deaths: 2,287
Marion County 7-day positivity rate unique individuals: 21.4%
Marion County 7-day positivity rate all tests: 11.9%
Hamilton County cumulative cases: 53,473
Hendricks County cumulative cases: 27,333
Johnson County cumulative cases: 28,714
Madison County cumulative cases: 22,120
Boone County cumulative cases: 10,215
Hancock County cumulative cases: 13,757
Morgan County cumulative cases: 10,875
Shelby County cumulative cases: 8,806
COVID-19 vaccinations
Statewide totals (Dec. 14, 2020–Dec. 14, 2021)
First dose administered: 3,553,124 (daily increase of 4,500)
Fully vaccinated: 3,505,850 (daily increase of 4,669)
Booster doses: 1,095,980 (daily increase of 18,473)
Indiana intensive care unit usage
ICU beds in use by COVID-19 patients: 32.9%
Available ICU beds: 19.6%
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
Wasn’t there an article in the last couple of days quoting WHO stating that they have no reported deaths from Omicron.
“At least one person has died from the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus in the U.K., Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday. The death was confirmed as Johnson warned of a looming “tidal wave” of Omicron infections, with cases doubling every two to three days across Britain. “
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/omicron-variant-death-covid-uk-boris-johnson-warns-tidal-wave-cases/
Important to distinguish new cases and deaths between vaccinated and not!
In the UK 4 out of 5 deaths in November were fully vaccinated. We do not receive the same transparency in the US. Fauci just stated publicly that there is a chance the vaccines could be making people more susceptible to contracting the virus. In his own words, it would not be the first time a vaccine that initially showed promise actually caused people to become more sick.
Baloney about the UK..
https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-coronavirus-britain/fact-check-vaccinated-people-in-britain-are-not-dying-at-a-higher-rate-than-the-unvaccinated-idUSL1N2RP28I
I think Robert C likes to make up rumors!
Robert C is correct. Jolf R either didn’t read the details in his posted “fact check” or he doesn’t understand statistics. Actual deaths are much higher in the vaccinated in the UK. The fact check tries to play the “missing context” game by converting the measurement to suit their aim.
From the “fact check” article:
“Indeed, of 1,521 over-80s who died from COVID-19 during this time, 1,272 were fully vaccinated, the data shows. Forty-three had received one vaccine dose, while 198 were unvaccinated. Meanwhile, 607 out of 801 70 to 79-year-olds who died from COVID-19 had received two vaccine doses (164 hadn’t been vaccinated) and of 411 60- to 69-year-olds, 258 were fully vaccinated (125 were unvaccinated)
Actually, Ronald F., YOU are the one who is misreading the fact check article. You are cherry-picking a part of the article and totally ignoring the context. There is a reason that a high percentage of the deaths are among vaccinated people… and that reason is that most people are vaccinated. Here is the money quote from the article: “This data does not show that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are more likely to die from the virus. When much of a population has been vaccinated, most infections and deaths are ‘expected to be among those vaccinated,’ Dr Muge Cevik, a clinical lecturer in infectious diseases and medical virology at the University of St Andrews, previously told Reuters.” Think about it this way…pretend that the vast majority of people in the UK are redheads, and then you find out that most of the people dying of COVID in the UK are redheads. Does that mean being a redhead causes them to be more likely to die of COVID? No…it’s just that there are a lot more redheads. Now read further into the article… for people over 80, the death rate is three times higher among the UNvaccinated. For those in their 70s, the death rate is five times higher for the UNvaccinated. Same with people in their 60s, and on down. Please IBJ moderators, if there are any, can you remove the misinformation from your website? This kind of misinformation is causing Americans to make dangerous and sometimes fatal decisions.
Steve D,
Robert C stated that most November deaths in the UK were among the vaccinated. That is a factual statement backed up by the article. No one implied it was because they were vaccinated.
The statistical adjustment in the article doesn’t negate the fact that most UK November actual deaths were of vaccinated individuals.
Correct Ronald F. And the Whales white paper reaffirms that the vaccine does not prevent death from COVID as American politicians and Joe B. want to infer.
Nothing prevents death, J C B. We all die. But you knew that, right, as a expert medical person?
Avoid meat, don’t smoke or drink, and guess what? You still die. Sure, someone who abstains from all those will likely live a heck a lot longer than someone who does all three, and likely have a higher quality of life in their later years, but they might not. Do doctors have zero credibility because they advise people to stop smoking, drinking too much, and eating too much when they know their patients will still die?
A seat belt makes it more likely you will survive a car crash, but it’s not a guarantee. Should seat belt laws be banned because seat belts don’t prevent 100% of car crash deaths?
What you all know is that the vaccine does it make it more likely that you’ll survive COVID. Using the inability of a new vaccine to prevent 100% of illness, while ignoring the benefits, just shows the agenda.
And refusing to allow that science is learning more, that a booster is needed, also shows the agenda. It’s just as insane as the folks who are proclaiming how great their natural immunity is, despite the data showing that omicron treats their previous infection with as much regard as Chuck Bednarik treated Frank Gifford. None of those folks are still on their rotary dial phones, watching only free-to-air TV on their old black and white Magnavox, heck reading IBJ only in the paper. Funny how you want some progress and knowledge, but not all of it. Kind of picking and choosing, aren’t we?
The reality is that if 100% of the population got vaccinated for COVID, then 100% of the folks who got sick/went to the hospital/ended up in the ICU/on a vent/died would be vaccinated for COVID. As also noted, I would wager any of you a big hot fresh box of Long’s donuts that the total number would be a heck of a lot smaller than if 100% of the population was unvaccinated and relying only on natural immunity for survivors.
This is normally where I post the stats showing the vast numbers of the unvaccinated who have slammed the hospitals of Indiana but why bother with this audience. You’ve made your choice, just stay home and deal with it. Don’t clog up the hospitals when you get COVID, whatever you do. Stay home and keep doing whatever Joe Rogan says to do.
You don’t want to listen to Fauci? Fine. Go listen to what Israel says to do. It’s generally what the US says to do later anyway.
It’s like Indiana weather… unreliable.
The Mayo Clinic is quite reliable. https://www.mayoclinic.org/coronavirus-covid-19/fully-vaccinated.
Robert C, citation please? 4 out of 5 deaths in general or from COVID specifically? Thanks!
COVID can cause long-term heart and lung problems as well as death. As an asthma sufferer, I don’t want ANY version of COVID
The idea that political opinions should play any part when making healthcare decisions is just absurd and totally illogical.
Bingo!
And that includes career government officials like Fauci who have zero credibility.
Spot-on! There’s zero chance that polio vaccination percentages were skewed heavily based on whether a family voted for Eisenhower or Stevenson. The moment Covid vaccinations became a political issue, we all lost.
So far 1,166,283 people have tested positive in Indiana. Who knows how many more didn’t get tested, but had the virus? For the sake of argument, say it was 100,000 more. 17,562 have died (probably a number of those died WITH the virus, not FROM it). 17,562/1,266,283 = .013….about 1%.
Don’t go there Mark… Joe B. will attack with a Twitter based data set of “science.”
“Attack”? Do we need do talk this out? Have you been triggered?
Maybe you’re not familiar with how the concept of debate works. We go back and forth. Well, that’s how it works conceptually, but I seem to notice that you never really respond to what I have to say. I mean, there’s always the concept of just attacking the person, instead of the information, but that’s generally regarded as acceptance that you’ve lost, you’ve got nothing to reply with.
Don’t get me wrong, I got whipped every single time in my debate class in high school. Wasn’t fun, but learned from it. I’ve been doing this online for 25 years on topics I’m passionate about. Best bring a strong game if you’re going to bring the misinformation.
If you’re left feeling bad, maybe you should just stop posting. Or, be more positive like Bob P is. He never lets being right less often as a broken clock get him down.
Oh, and Mark? What percentage of excess deaths in the state of Indiana should we attribute to COVID? If it’s fair to subtract some for people who died with COVID but not from COVID, that it’s only fair to assume that people are also dying of COVID but not being labeled as COVID deaths.
I mean, on some level, it doesn’t matter. When you have situations like “all hospitals in Hamilton County are apparently on diversion today”, let’s keep trying to normalize that and minimize COVID.
https://twitter.com/Ron__Kern/status/1471172135846567943
Twitter reference as predicted ⬆️
Not “triggered” or “woke” or whatever buzzword people like to use.
I can reference several white papers to support a position or confirm the lack of prospective, peer-reviewed data to support general population masking, vaccines, social distancing, lockdowns… you name it. Will it change people’s views at this point in time? No.
Just rather point out the constant bias and references to support a flawed premise that has yet to show data for the Joe B. conclusions.
So much for the process of scientific method.
The comments on IBJ are hardly a debate. Often it’s rants, quick insight, or parody…and I’ve continued to point out that politicians have created their own “science” to support their cause.
Maybe someday constituents will recognize it’s time to fire all career politicians, fire people like Fauci who lie daily as he changes basic “science”. Can he? I’m waiting for him to challenge fundamental laws from Newton at this point.
But in the meantime, the economy and labor force is in peril due to politicians, healthcare has been invaded by politicians, and society is divided the most it has been in several decades thanks to…you called it: politicians.
Wings of hospitals, beds empty, lights off.
I’d challenge everyone at this point to review the quarterly balance sheets of the health systems in Indiana. What’s the saying? Follow the money?
But at least influenza is gone right Joe?
Maybe your information doesn’t change any minds because it isn’t that good, and isn’t as conclusive as you claim it is.
Posting the link is how you show where you got your information from. I especially know how mediocre Twitter is, but if you’re going to run around repeating something, you should show your source. Hence the word “apparently” I used.
I would agree with one thing, politicians have invaded medicine. For instance, why the concept of vaccination has become political blows my mind. This vaccine was developed by a Republican president and is being administered by a Democratic president. There is nothing political about it.
Yet, only one side of that debate taken to repeatedly attacking the vaccine, holding it to standards (“long term data!”) the virus itself is not held to.
Only one side of that debate constantly attacked the numbers of people testing positive for dying from Covid while strangely silent about the excess deaths seen in America the last two years. If Covid is a fraud, what are all these people dying of?
Only one side of that debate is looking for a miracle cure regardless of the lack of science behind them. Hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, I’m sure there will be another one very soon. Yep when it comes to antibody treatments or the upcoming pills that people can take, those are diminished and considered untrustworthy.
Maybe if those politicians haven’t gotten involved in Covid, our economy and healthcare wouldn’t be in this situation they’re in. Maybe Republicans should go back to attacking democracy and figuring out the next big tax for the ultra rich and leave medicine to the professionals.
Fauci is the exact opposite of a career politician, he’s a career professional. There’s a reason he is served under multiple administrations regardless of political party. But he’s only become a problem to Republicans in the last two years, which should perhaps lead you to question where the Republican Party is coming from. Then again, if you were blissfully unaware of what happened during the Trump administration, which had a repeatable pattern of replacing competence with cronyism, where knowledge wasn’t as valued as personal loyalty, maybe it’s a little confusing to you. Maybe you think it’s great! I think it’s a total disaster.
So we have a bunch of voters who think Dr. Oz is better than Dr. Fauci. We have Todd Rokita ready to make all childhood vaccinations optional because individual liberty is more important than public health. Explain to me how Indiana is going to get businesses to come to a state prone to childhood disease outbreaks after that happens.
When that’s how a large chunk of America has been led astray, the flu seems like the least of our problems.