Indiana November deaths top 1,400

Holcomb extends state’s public health emergency 30 days

The number of COVID-19 deaths in Indiana has nearly doubled for November from a month earlier as health officials continue adding to those reports and the state’s coronavirus-related hospitalizations remain at their highest point during the pandemic.

The Indiana State Department of Health added 142 deaths to the statewide toll with its daily update on Tuesday.

Most of those deaths occurred over the past week with a reporting lull from local officials over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Locally, Lake County has reported 475 fatalities including six new deaths in Tuesday’s reporting.

While Porter County showed one new fatality Tuesday, the state dashboard shows a total of 91.

Marion County shows the most deaths with 15 new ones for a total of 885, according to the state.

Those boost Indiana’s coronavirus deaths during November to at least 1,416 people — surpassing the previous monthly peak during April by nearly 400 and almost double October’s total of 732 deaths.

Gov. Eric Holcomb on Tuesday also signed an extension of the state’s public health emergency through Dec. 31.

Under authority from that emergency, the governor has issued the statewide mask order and limits on crowd sizes based on the county risk level of coronavirus spread.

Hospital officials across the state are worried about being overwhelmed by the quickly growing number of severely ill patients.

Indiana hospitals were treating 3,460 COVID-19 patients as of Monday — about a 350% increase since late September when the steep increase in hospitalizations and deaths began.

In reporting Tuesday, Lake County was showing 474 new cases and a total of 29,643. The state dashboard showed Porter County with 9,034 cases with 137 new cases reported Tuesday.