Indiana sets COVID-19 case record for third straight day

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana set a single-day record of newly reported COVID-19 cases for the third straight day Friday as the state again surpassed 4,000 new cases and coronavirus hospitalizations also surged to a new high, state health officials said.

The 4,714 new infections reported by the Indiana State Department of Health on Friday were the state’s highest single-day level of the pandemic, eclipsing the previous record of 4,462 new cases officials reported Thursday.

The new records came just days after Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, who has continued resisting calls for reinstating coronavirus limits he largely lifted in September, said following his landslide reelection victory that he’s not making any changes to state policy on handling COVID-19.

The department’s daily update of its coronavirus dashboard showed 2,001 Hoosiers are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 — the largest number Indiana has seen since officials began releasing those counts last spring, early in the pandemic. Of those hospitalized, 541 are in intensive care.

More than 71% of Indiana’s intensive care unit beds are also in use, according to the Health Department, leaving 621 beds available as of Thursday.

Indiana’s seven-day rolling average for newly confirmed coronavirus cases additionally rose to 3,576. That is the highest level the state has seen during the pandemic and more than quadruple the seven-day rolling average of 858 newly confirmed cases the agency reported on Sept. 22 — the day before Holcomb announced his decision to lift nearly all of Indiana’s restrictions while extending the statewide mask mandate.

Indiana’s 37 new COVID-19 deaths reported Friday raised the state’s pandemic death toll to 4,547, including confirmed and presumed coronavirus infections.

To date, more than 1.7 million people have been tested for COVID-19 in Indiana, and a total of 200,823 Hoosiers are known to have had the virus.

Holcomb, who won a second term as governor on Tuesday by defeating Democrat Woody Myers said Wednesday he’s not making any changes to COVID-19 policy, including no statewide closure of schools.

Myers, a former state health commissioner, had called for tougher anti-virus actions as Indiana’s COVID-19 hospitalizations, deaths and new infections climbed steeply since nearly all state restrictions were lifted in September.