Nearly 1,300 Hoosiers were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Tuesday, according to the most recent data released by the state health department. Of those, 305 were in intensive care, the most since Feb. 5.

The state's analysis of instructional mode and assessment data suggests students going to school remotely didn't make academic progress at the same rate as their in-person peers.

According to the Indiana Department of Health's COVID-19 dashboard, Hoosier schools have reported more than 300 new cases in the last week alone.

Lafayette School Corporation officials say students cooperated with a mask mandate Tuesday on the first day of school.

Federal COVID-19 relief money allowed Indianapolis to house people without shelter in a hotel, aiding in housing-first efforts.

The case is not the first time a coronavirus-related issue has been before the court, but it is the first time it has been asked to weigh in on a vaccine mandate.

Ball State University President Geoffrey Mearns announced in a message to faculty that masks would be required in all university buildings beginning Monday. And Valparaiso University is requiring all students, faculty and staff to receive the COVID-19 vaccine before the start of the fall semester.

Anderson Community Schools in Madison County has entire classrooms of children out for quarantine just one week into the new school year, and is one of multiple districts across the state already grappling with COVID-19 cases forcing kids out of classrooms.

The Indiana Department of Health reported more than 2,000 new COVID-19 cases Friday. That comes as cases – and hospitalizations – have continued to grow in the last several weeks.

The COVID-19 delta variant accounts for more than 80 percent of sampled positive cases in Indiana. State health officials have pointed to the variant as the main driver of Indiana’s recent climb in new cases and hospitalizations.