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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Indiana State Department of Health on Wednesday said the number of positive cases for COVID-19 in the state has risen to 25,473 following the emergence of 346 more cases.
That’s the fewest new cases contained in a daily report since April 22, when 341 were reported.
The state reported 500 new cases on Tuesday, 501 on Monday, 394 on Sunday, 586 on Saturday, 643 on Friday, and 633 on Thursday.
The department said Wednesday that the cumulative death toll in the state rose to 1,482, up from 1,444 the previous day—an increase of 38.
More than 91% of the total deaths involve those who are age 60 or older. About 75% of those who have died are older than 70. Men account for 52.2% of the deaths.
The state reported that 154,083 people have been tested so far, up from 150,510 in Tuesday’s report—an increase of 3,573.
The ISDH said the test numbers reflect only those tests reported to the department and the numbers should not be characterized as a comprehensive total.
New positive cases, deaths and tests have occurred over a range of dates but were reported to the department in the previous day.
The department reported the state’s first case on March 6 and first death from COVID-19 on March 16.
Marion County on Wednesday reported 7,703 cumulative cases—up from 7,632 the previous day, an increase of 71 cases.
The county’s cumulative death toll rose to 440, up from 429 in Tuesday’s report.
The state said 36,154 people have been tested in the county.
As for surrounding counties, Hamilton had 960 positive cases; Johnson 838; Hendricks 989; Boone 235; Hancock 276; Madison 527; Morgan 224; and Shelby 273.
Every Indiana county has at least three cases.
The department said 42.1% of the state’s intensive care unit beds were still available. About 17.1% are being used by COVID-19 patients.
The department also said 80.6% of the state’s ventilators were available. About 7% were being used for COVID-19 patients.
The health department is providing case updates daily at noon based on results received through 11:59 p.m. the previous day.
Health officials say Indiana has far more coronavirus cases—possibly thousands more—than those indicated by the number of tests.
As of Wednesday morning, more than 1.37 million cases had been reported in the United States, with 82,548 deaths, according to a running tally maintained by health researchers at Johns Hopkins University & Medicine. More than 230,287 people have recovered.
Nearly 4.3 million cases have been reported globally, with 293,514 deaths. More than 1.5 million people have recovered.
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IBJ—-What is preventing the reporting on new hospital admissions?
Chuck, this is intended to be a quick daily report on the basic numbers issued by the health department. We’ve written about hospitalizations in our other coverage. Here is a site maintained by the Regenstrief Institute that has a lot of daily information on hospitalizations: https://www.regenstrief.org/covid-dashboard/
Another helpful indicator, as reopening proceeds, is the fraction of positive tests. It’s now a little under 20 percent, which is quite high. If IBJ included this in its daily roundup that would provide good perspective for workers, businesses, and consumers.