COVID-19 deaths climb as Indiana virus spread continues

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Another 125 Indiana residents have died from COVID-19, pushing the state’s pandemic death toll past 7,000, state health officials said Wednesday.

The newly confirmed deaths, which occurred over several days, raised Indiana’s toll to 7,102, including both confirmed and presumed infections, the Indiana State Department of Health said.

The state agency also reported that another 6,283 Hoosiers have been diagnosed with COVID-19, increasing number of Indiana residents known to have had the coronavirus to 440,850.

The department’s daily statistics update also showed that 3,192 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Tuesday at Indiana’s hospitals.

In light of the state’s recent steep increases in serious COVID-19 illnesses, Gov. Eric Holcomb issued an order last week requiring Indiana’s hospitals to postpone elective surgeries to free up hospital capacity. Holcomb and health officials were scheduled to hold a Wednesday afternoon briefing on the state’s coronavirus response.

Indiana’s hospitals are currently treating nearly quadruple the number of COVID-19 patients that were under care in late September, when the state’s recent steep increase in hospitalizations and deaths began.

To date, 2,461,562 unique individuals have been tested in Indiana, up from 2,446,551 on Tuesday, the department said. A total of 5,050,163 tests, including repeat tests for unique individuals, have been reported to the state health department since Feb. 26.