Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Indiana top 26,000, deaths exceed 1,500

The Indiana State Department of Health on Thursday said the number of positive cases for COVID-19 in the state has risen to 26,053 following the emergence of 580 more cases.

The state reported 346 new cases on Wednesday, 500 on Tuesday, 501 on Monday, 394 on Sunday, 586 on Saturday, and 643 on Friday.

The department said Thursday that the cumulative death toll in the state rose to 1,508, up from 1,482 the previous day — an increase of 26.

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 51.6% of the deaths.

The state reported that 160,239 people have been tested so far, up from 154,083 in Wednesday’s report — an increase of 6,156. The state has reported more than 6,000 new tests in its daily report only one other time — 6,659 on May 11.

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 — possibly thousands more — than those indicated by the number of tests. A study announced Wednesday 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 Thursday reported 7,793 cumulative cases — up from 7,703 the previous day, an increase of 90 cases.

The county’s cumulative death toll rose to 451, up from 440 in Wednesday’s report.

The state said 37,026 people have been tested in the county.

As for surrounding counties, Hendricks had 997 positive cases; Hamilton 968; Johnson 952; Madison 527; Hancock 278; Shelby 275; Boone 249; and Morgan 226.

Pike County has three cases, but every other Indiana county has at least seven cases.

Elsewhere in Indiana, these counties had more than 200 cases as of Thursday include: Lake 2,684; Cass 1,546; Allen 898; St. Joseph 897; Elkhart 589; Clark 395; Bartholomew 383; Porter 372; LaPorte 346; Jackson 304; Tippecanoe 268; Howard 258; Floyd 250; Delaware 235; and Decatur 216.

The department said 40.5% of the state’s intensive care unit beds were still available. About 17.3% are being used by COVID-19 patients.

The department also said 79.8% of the state’s ventilators were available. About 7% were being used for COVID-19 patients.

The health department is providing daily updates online at noon based on results received through 11:59 p.m. the previous day.

As of Thursday morning, more than 1.39 million cases had been reported in the United States, with 84,313 deaths, according to a running tally maintained by health researchers at Johns Hopkins University & Medicine. More than 243,400 people have recovered.

Nearly 4.4 million cases have been reported globally, with 298,392 deaths. More than 1.5 million people have recovered.