Indiana’s COVID case count rises by 475, deaths by 10

The Indiana State Department of Health on Wednesday said the number of positive cases of COVID-19 in the state has risen to 35,712, following an increase of 475 cases.

The state reported an increase of 407 cases on Tuesday, 256 on Monday, 363 cases on Sunday, 653 on Saturday, 490 on Friday and 595 on Thursday.

The department said Wednesday that the cumulative death toll in the state rose to 2,032, up from 2,022 the previous day—an increase of 10.

Nearly 92% of the total deaths involve those who are age 60 or older. More than 75% of those who have died are older than 70. Only 2.9% of the deaths have involved someone younger than 50.

According to the report, 945 deaths—or 47.8% of the state’s total—involved long-term care patients, as of Monday. The state said 150 facilities have experienced at least one COVID-19 death.

The state said 277,815 people have been tested so far, up from 271,919 in Tuesday’s report—an increase of 5,896.

The state said 12.9% of those tested so far have been positive for COVID-19.

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.

Health officials say Indiana has far more coronavirus cases—probably tens of thousands more—than those indicated by the number of official tests. A study announced May 13 estimated at least 186,000 Hoosiers have or had COVID-19 through the end of April.

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 10,037 cumulative cases—up from 9,978 the previous day, an increase of 59 cases.

The county’s cumulative death toll was 594, up from 592 in Tuesday’s report.

The state said 56,214 people have been tested in the county.

As for surrounding counties, Hamilton had 1,180 positive cases; Johnson 1,120; Hendricks 1,180; Boone 318; Hancock 349; Madison 597; Morgan 283; and Shelby 398.

Pike County has six cases, but every other Indiana county has at least nine.

The department said 41% of the state’s intensive care unit beds were still available. About 14.1% are being used by COVID-19 patients.

The department also said 83.4% of the state’s ventilators were available, with 4.5% 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.

As of Wednesday morning, more than 1.83 million cases had been reported in the United States, with 106,312 deaths, according to a running tally maintained by health researchers at Johns Hopkins University & Medicine. More than 463,860 people have recovered.

More than 6.4 million cases have been reported globally, with 381,528 deaths. More than 2.75 million people have recovered.