


CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
State sets record for deaths; Lake reports
18 new virus fatalities
Indiana set a single-day record of newly reported COVID-19 deaths following the Christmas holiday and a backlog of weekend reporting, state health officials said Tuesday.
The state on Monday reached its highest number of COVID-19 deaths in a single day, the Indiana State Department of Health said Tuesday, eclipsing the previous record of 143 deaths officials reported Dec. 22.
Lake County reported 18 deaths, according to the state, bringing the county total to 591. That number only second in the state to Marion County, where 18 new deaths were also reported Tuesday. Marion County, which includes Indianapolis, is now up to 1,114 COVID-19 deaths. Porter County, according to the state, has reported eight new deaths, raising the total there to 139.
Most of the state’s newly recorded deaths occurred in the past week, with some dated to early December. Those deaths raised Indiana’s toll to 8,051, including victims with both confirmed and presumed infections.
The department’s
Lake County has more than 39,000 cases, while Porter County has reached more than 12,500.
The state agency additionally reported that more than 20% of the 2,951 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 on Monday were in intensive care.
The new statistics come
Since the pandemic began, a software error has caused underreporting in statewide COVID-19 positivity rates and for individual counties, state health commissioner Dr. Kristina Box
The corrected data will be published Wednesday in time for the state’s weekly update of county labeling. While the county-level impacts will vary, Box expects some smaller counties will see a decline in positivity rate after the changes.
Because the state uses a county’s positivity rate to determine which
To date, 2,613,675 unique individuals have been tested in Indiana, up from 2,605,669 on Monday. A total of 5,585,093 tests, including repeat tests for unique individuals, have been reported to the state Department of Health since Feb. 26.