State’s daily report hits new high mark for COVID-19 cases

The Indiana State Department of Health on Friday said the number of positive cases for COVID-19 in the state has risen to 13,680, following the emergence of 641 more cases.

The count is the highest number of new cases reported by the department in a daily report since the beginning of the pandemic.

The previous high was 613 on Friday, April 17.

The state reported 601 new cases on Thursday, 341 on Wednesday, 411 on Tuesday, 476 on Monday, 569 on Sunday and 487 on Saturday.

The state said Friday that the cumulative death toll in the state rose to 741, up from 706 the previous day — an increase of 35.

The department said this week it would now include presumptive positive deaths in its totals. Presumptive positive deaths are not necessarily verified by tests, but include 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 75,553 people have been tested so far, up from 72,040 in Thursday’s report — an increase of 3,513 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 4,537 cumulative cases — up from 4,408 the previous day, an increase of 129 cases.

The state reported 238 cumulative deaths in Marion County, up from 228 in Thursday’s report. The state said 21,195 people have been tested in the county.

As for surrounding counties, Hamilton had 670 positive cases; Johnson 511; Hendricks 582; Madison 379; Boone 177; Hancock 171; Morgan 128; and Shelby 154.

Every Indiana county has at least one case.

Elsewhere around the state, these counties had at least 140 reported cases as of Friday: Lake (1,445), St. Joseph (515), Allen (400), Cass (255), Porter (204), Elkhart (211), Clark (207), Decatur (191), Bartholomew (175), Floyd (162) and LaPorte (149).

The department said 44.3% of the state’s intensive care unit beds were still available. About 19% are being used by COVID-19 patients.

The department also said 78.3% of the state’s ventilators were available. About 10% were 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.

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

As of Friday morning, 870,468 cases had been reported in the United States, with 50,031 deaths, according to a running tally maintained by health researchers at Johns Hopkins University & Medicine. More than 80,900 people have recovered.

More than 2.74 million cases have been reported globally, with 192,982 deaths. More than 752,800 people have recovered.