So-called cryptic lineages may hold the key to better understand how the virus that causes COVID mutates to evade our immune systems.

Lawmakers aim to address nursing shortages. Indiana surpasses 21,000 dead. And statewide COVID-19 cases continue to drop.

Some Indiana school districts no longer need to do contact tracing. The state’s COVID-19 cases have continued to slow as it reaches 1.6 million confirmed cases. And the state surpassed 20,000 dead, reporting its most recent 1,000 in just two weeks.

There is so much data related to COVID-19 available that it can be hard to make sense of it all.To get some clarity on the issue, Side Effects Public Media and Indiana Public Broadcasting spoke with experts about how to find COVID-19 data and how to use it to guide decision-making.

Indiana added 1,000 new confirmed COVID-19 deaths to its total in just two weeks, pushing the state past another grim milestone: 20,000 dead.

As the omicron variant pushes COVID-19 case counts to new highs, we've received audience questions about monoclonal antibodies, which are used to prevent and treat infection from the coronavirus. To get answers, Side Effects Public Media spoke with Dr. Myron Cohen, a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Indiana reports more than 15,000 new COVID-19 cases in a single day. State health officials open booster shots to Hoosiers 12 to 15 years old. And the Indiana House GOP’s bill to effectively ban private companies from enforcing vaccine mandates passes its first legislative hurdle.

There is a lot of evidence to suggest that omicron cases are less likely to result in hospitalizations. But while the individual risk of severe infection is lower, experts say the skyrocketing number of COVID-19 cases may still result in a crush of new hospitalizations.

The Indiana Department of Health added 15,277 new confirmed COVID-19 cases to the state's total, pushing it beyond 1.3 million confirmed for the entire pandemic.