Hospitalizations from COVID-19 reach highest mark since last year
Statewide hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have climbed 27% since Dec. 1 and 124% over the past month.
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One year of vaccines: Many lives saved, but crisis continues
One year ago, the biggest vaccination drive in American history began with a flush of excitement in an otherwise gloomy December.
GM chief exec says making ventilators in Indiana changed company’s culture
CEO Mary Barra said General Motors now uses the same approach it learned making ventilators at a Kokomo factory for its own electric vehicles, software and partially automated driver-assist systems.
Pandemic mystery: Scientists focus on COVID’s animal origins
Nearly two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the origin of the virus tormenting the world remains shrouded in the unknown.
Overwhelmed by latest surge, hospitals again delay elective surgeries
Some hospitals across Indiana warn they are operating near full capacity due to the latest COVID-19 surge and that their doctors, nurses and other staffers are already exhausted.
FDA expands Pfizer COVID booster, opens extra dose to ages 16-17
On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration gave emergency authorization for 16- and 17-year-olds to get a third dose of the vaccine made by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech—if it’s been six months since their last shot.
IU Health enlists National Guard to help with surge in COVID-19 cases
The state’s largest hospital system said it continues to see “exceptionally high numbers” of COVID-19 patients in all 16 of its hospitals.
New COVID-19 antibody drug OK’d to protect most vulnerable
People who could benefit from the antibody drug include cancer patients, organ transplant recipients and people taking immune-suppressing drugs for conditions like rheumatoid arthritis.
Led by Braun, Senate votes to repeal key Biden vaccine and testing policy
In their most public, forceful protest to date, Republicans led by Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana muscled to passage a proposal that aims to repeal rules ordering large private businesses to require vaccination or implement comprehensive coronavirus testing for their workers.
Statewide COVID hospitalizations climb to 11-month high
The state on Wednesday reported 80 more deaths from COVID-19, a two-day total of 173. The seven-day average of deaths from COVID rose from 23 to 27 per day.
COVID cases spike even as U.S. reaches vaccine milestone
Deaths are running close to 1,600 a day on average, back up to where they were in October. And the overall U.S. death toll less than two years into the crisis could hit another heartbreaking milestone, 800,000, in a matter of days.
Judge blocks Biden vaccine mandate for federal contractors
The order came in response to a lawsuit from several contractors and seven states. It applies across the U.S. because one of those challenging the order is the trade group Associated Builders and Contractors Inc.
Pfizer says COVID booster offers protection against omicron
Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said that while two doses may not be protective enough to prevent infection, lab tests showed a booster increased by 25-fold people’s levels of virus-fighting antibodies against the omicron variant.
Hospitalizations from COVID-19 in Indiana climb near 3-month high
The Indiana State Department of Health on Tuesday reported 93 more deaths from COVID-19, increasing the state’s pandemic death toll to 17,230.
Holcomb frustrated with ‘absurd’ vaccine-refusal reasons
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb said the pandemic remains a real threat and is taking lives, but he maintains that the state’s role is to provide vaccines and other resources, not impose vaccine requirements or mask mandates.
First lab results show omicron variant has ability to avoid vaccine antibodies
Initial data indicate that omicron may be more transmissible even than delta, the variant that became dominant throughout the world this summer.
Canadian drugmaker says its COVID-19 vaccine is effective
The Quebec City company said it will seek Canadian approval “imminently” and has also begun the process to file with regulators in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries.
Companies delaying office returns amid omicron uncertainty
Major corporations that had planned to shepherd all their employees back into offices in early 2022 now have to decide whether those dates make sense in light of further evidence of the pandemic’s unpredictability.
Hospitals set new pandemic record, with 70% of staffed beds in use
Across the state, 2,408 people were hospitalized for COVID-19 Saturday. That’s up from a recent low of 1,209 on Nov. 6, and six times the number of people hospitalized from COVID-19 at the year-to-date low mark of 369 on June 24.
Omicron possibly more infectious because of ties to common cold coronavirus, study says
The omicron variant is likely to have picked up genetic material from another virus that causes the common cold in humans, according to a new preliminary study.