Indiana COVID-19 hospitalizations highest in nearly a year

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s COVID-19 hospitalizations have topped 3,000 people for the first time in nearly a year amid the state’s ongoing infection surge.

Indiana hospitals were treating 3,020 COVID-19 patients as of Monday, according to tracking by the state health department. That is up about 150% in the past five weeks and the most such patients since just before Christmas Day last year.

About a quarter of those patients are in hospital intensive care units. The Indiana Hospital Association said last week that COVID-19 cases and other severe illnesses had given the state’s hospitals their highest-ever total patient counts.

Indiana is approaching its pandemic peak for COVID-19 hospitalizations when that number reached about 3,400 in early December last year.

State health officials have recorded nearly 18,200 confirmed or presumed COVID-19 deaths since March 2020. Indiana has been averaging about 35 COVID-19 deaths a day so far this month. That average has remained over 20 daily deaths since late August after falling below five a day in July.