State reports another 569 COVID-19 cases, 38 more deaths

The Indiana State Department of Health on Wednesday said the number of positive cases of COVID-19 in the state has risen to 29,274, following the emergence of 569 more cases.

The state reported 450 new cases on Tuesday, 477 on Monday, 498 on Sunday, 625 on Saturday, 602 on Friday and 580 on Thursday.

The department said Wednesday that the cumulative death toll in the state rose to 1,716, up from 1,678 the previous day — an increase of 38. That’s the 14th time in May that the daily increase has exceeded 30.

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. Men account for 50.6% of the deaths. Only 3% of the deaths have involved someone younger than 50.

According to the report, 732 deaths — or 43% of the state’s total — have involved long-term care facilities.

The state said 195,738 people have been tested so far, up from 189,330 in Tuesday’s report — an increase of 6,408. Daily testing has exceeded 5,000 for seven straight days and in 13 of the last 16 days.

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 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 8,656 cumulative cases — up from 8,541 the previous day, an increase of 115 cases.

The county’s cumulative death toll rose to 505, up from 497 in Tuesday’s report.

The state said 44,128 people have been tested in the county.

As for surrounding counties, Hendricks had 1,060 cases; Hamilton 1,054 cases; Johnson 1,029; Madison 568; Hancock 303; Shelby 302; Boone 263; and Morgan 250.

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

Elsewhere around Indiana, these counties have at least 220 reported cases: Elsewhere in Indiana, these counties had more than 200 cases as of Thursday include: Lake 3,024; Cass 1,564; Allen 1,106; St. Joseph 1,054; Elkhart 777; Bartholomew 448; Clark 438; Porter 421; LaPorte 365; Jackson 338; Howard 331; Tippecanoe 331; Floyd 306; Delaware 297; Vanderburgh 225; and Decatur 220.

The department said 39% of the state’s intensive care unit beds were still available. About 16.6% are being used by COVID-19 patients.

The department also said 80.7% of the state’s ventilators were available, with 6.4% 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 1.53 million cases had been reported in the United States, with 92,128 deaths, according to a running tally maintained by health researchers at Johns Hopkins University & Medicine. More than 289,300 people have recovered.

More than 4.93 million cases have been reported globally, with 324,240 deaths. More than 1.7 million people have recovered.