Indiana's COVID-19 Hospitalizations, Deaths Keep Growing

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s hospitals spent the weekend with more COVID-19 patients than all but a single day since the state started its public reports on hospitalizations nearly eight months ago, according to state health officials on Monday.

The 1,759 coronavirus hospitalizations as of Sunday trailed only one day in mid-April and marked an 80 percent jump for COVID-19 patients in the past month, the state health department reported in its daily statistics update.

The agency also added 26 more coronavirus-related deaths to Indiana’s toll, raising it to 4,390, including confirmed and presumed coronavirus infections. Indiana reached a seven-day rolling average of 28 daily deaths on Saturday, the highest level since May and nearly double from a month ago.

Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb has resisted calls for reinstating coronavirus restrictions since lifting nearly all limits in late September, just as the state started recording sharp increases in hospitalizations, deaths and new infections.

Democratic governor candidate Woody Myers, a former state health commissioner, said tougher restrictions needed to be reinstated in Indiana. He has also repeatedly called for a stronger mask mandate, as the one Holcomb has issued includes no penalties for violators.

Indiana’s average daily number of new confirmed COVD-19 cases reached 2,960 as of Sunday. That is up almost 190 percent from a month ago and has continued rising to new highs that the state has seen during the pandemic.