Indiana’s official COVID-19 case count passes 30,000

The Indiana State Department of Health on Friday said the number of positive cases of COVID-19 in the state has risen to 30,409, following the emergence of 473 more cases.

The state reported 662 new cases on Thursday, 569 on Wednesday, 450 on Tuesday, 477 on Monday, 498 on Sunday, 625 on Saturday, and 602 on Friday.

The department said Friday that the cumulative death toll in the state rose to 1,791, up from 1,764 the previous day—an increase of 27.

More than 91% 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 3% of the deaths have involved someone younger than 50.

According to the report, 732 deaths—or 41% of the state’s total—have involved long-term care facilities.

The state said 208,561 people have been tested so far, up from 202,995 in Thursday’s report—an increase of 5,566.

Daily testing has topped 5,000 for nine straight days and in 15 of the last 18 days.

The state said 14.6% 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 Friday reported 8,928 cumulative cases—up from 8,815 the previous day, an increase of 113 cases.

The county’s cumulative death toll rose to 528, up from 518 in Thursday’s report.

The state said 45,592 people have been tested in the county.

As for surrounding counties, Hamilton had 1,084 positive cases; Johnson 1,052; Hendricks 1,095; Boone 278; Hancock 312; Madison 576; Morgan 253; and Shelby 309.

Pike County has five cases, but every other Indiana county has at least eight.

The department said 37.8% of the state’s intensive care unit beds were still available. About 16.1% are being used by COVID-19 patients.

The department also said 81.4% of the state’s ventilators were available, with 5.6% 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 Friday morning, more than 1.57 million cases had been reported in the United States, with 94,729 deaths, according to a running tally maintained by health researchers at Johns Hopkins University & Medicine. More than 298,400 people have recovered.

More than 5.1 million cases have been reported globally, with 333,489 deaths. More than 1.96 million people have recovered.