No Indiana Counties Marked High Risk For COVID-19 Spread

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — As Indiana’s rates of new COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths continued a steep decline after peaking in early December, state health officials lowered the risk level for COVID-19 spread in more counties.

The state Department of Health on Wednesday reported 933 new coronavirus infections, bringing the total number of Hoosiers known to have the virus up to 651,453.

Health officials also added 20 recent coronavirus deaths to the statewide total, pushing it to 12,250 fatalities including both confirmed and presumed COVID-19 infections.

The health department reported that 955 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Tuesday at Indiana’s hospitals. That marks the first time since Oct. 4 that fewer than 1,000 COVID-19 patients were recorded by the state.

The state Department of Health’s weekly tracking map updated Wednesday labels no counties in the highest-risk red category for the first time since late September. That is down from 73 of the 92 counties in that category last month.

This week’s map lists eight counties in the next-riskiest orange category, a drop from 40 one week earlier.

Gov. Eric Holcomb and state health leaders were scheduled to discuss the coronavirus response during a Wednesday afternoon briefing.