State reports declining number of COVID-19 cases, 31 more deaths

The Indiana State Department of Health on Wednesday said the number of positive cases for COVID-19 in the state has risen to 12,438, following the emergence of 341 more cases.

The daily count is the lowest since 291 new cases were reported on April 14. However, the department cautioned in a tweet that “new cases/tests reported today are lower than expected due to a technology issue and should not be interpreted as a decline in new infections. The additional positive cases not included in today’s report will be captured in the coming days and reflected appropriately.”

New reported cases were down from 411 on Tuesday, 476 on Monday, 569 on Sunday, 487 on Saturday and 613 on Friday.

The state said Wednesday that the cumulative death toll in the state rose to 661, up from 630 the previous day — an increase of 31.

The department said this week that death numbers would begin to increase because it was now reporting presumptive positive deaths in its totals. Presumptive positive deaths are not necessarily verified by tests, but includes deaths in which a doctor listed COVID-19 as an underlying cause.

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.

The state reported that 69,470 people have been tested so far, up from 67,264 in Tuesday’s report  —  an increase of 2,206 tests.

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.

Marion County reported 4,263 cumulative cases — up from 4,176 the previous day, an increase of 87 cases.

The state reported 214 cumulative deaths in Marion County, up from 206 in Wednesday’s report. The state said 19,636 people have been tested in the county.

As for surrounding counties, Hamilton had 624 positive cases; Johnson 456; Hendricks 518; Boone 166; Hancock 151; Madison 351; Morgan 124; and Shelby 125.

Every Indiana county has at least one case.

Elsewhere around the state, these counties have had at least 120 cases as of Wednesday: Lake (1,292), St. Joseph (454), Allen (343), Porter (193), Clark (188), Elkhart (185), Decatur (178), Floyd (149), Bartholomew (146), LaPorte (144), Cass (138) and Delaware (121).

The department said 46.3% of the state’s intensive care unit beds were still available. About 21% are being used by COVID-19 patients.

The department also said 76.9% of the state’s ventilators were available.

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

Health officials say Indiana has far more coronavirus cases — possibly thousands more — than those indicated by the number of tests.

As of Wednesday morning, 826,248 cases had been reported in the United States, with 45,153 deaths, according to a running tally maintained by health researchers at Johns Hopkins University & Medicine. More than 75,600 people have recovered.

Nearly 2.6 million cases have been reported globally, with 179,778 deaths. More than 696,900 people have recovered.