Indiana tops 6,000 deaths related to virus since March

Indiana has topped 6,000 confirmed or suspected COVID-19 deaths with the state also recording a new high for average daily coronavirus fatalities amid the ongoing infection surge.

The state health department’s Thursday update added 60 more recent coronavirus deaths to the statewide toll.

They boost Indiana’s total deaths of people with confirmed COVID-19 infections to 5,748, along with 285 deaths that doctors believe involved infections without confirmation from tests. Those give Indiana 6,033 coronavirus-related deaths since the first one was reported in March.

Lake and Porter counties reported large positive test results Thursday, according to the state’s dashboard. In Porter County, 169 new cases were reported bringing the county total to 9,321, according to the state.

Lake County added 530 new cases in reporting Thursday. According to the state, the county has had 30,537 COVID-19 cases.

While Lake County normally trails Marion County in new cases in daily reporting, St. Joseph County reported the second-most cases Thursday with 859. Marion County reported 986 new cases.

Gov. Eric Holcomb said Wednesday the state was bracing for a possible new surge of infections following Thanksgiving gatherings in the past week but that he didn’t plan on toughening any statewide restrictions.

Health officials across the state are worried about hospitals being overwhelmed by the influx of severely ill patients. Indiana hospitals have been treating more than quadruple the number of COVID-19 patients since late September when the state’s steep increase in hospitalizations and deaths began.

The state’s seven-day rolling average of COVID-19 deaths has reached 61 per day after that average was below 10 a day during July following the previous peak of 41 in April. The new average is up by one daily death with the health department’s Thursday update.

Three new deaths were reported Thursday in Lake County to bring the county total to 484. Porter County remains at 92 deaths, according to the state.

State health officials on Thursday also reported a one-day high of about 8,500 new COVID-19 infections, although it said some 400 were from old unreported tests. The previous daily high was nearly 8,300 infections reported on Nov. 13.