Indiana Hits 200,000 Confirmed Cases, Outpaces Increase In Testing

Indiana crossed 200,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases as it set yet another record-breaking daily case total Friday. While the number of tests the state has done has steadily increased, new cases outpace it. 

It’s hard to compare Indiana’s cases and testing from March to November – it’s not an apples to apples comparison because of the nationwide struggles to expand testing capacity. 

But it is a more fair comparison from now to Sept. 6 – when the state crossed 100,000 confirmed cases. From that point, the increase in the number of new cases cannot be explained solely by the increase in the number of tests – testing only increased by about 48 percent.

And its seven-day moving average has quadrupled from when we hit 100,000 cases to now. In that same time, the state went from 771 Hoosiers hospitalized with COVID-19 to 2,001 – the most since the Indiana State Department of Health started releasing that data. The seven-day average for people hospitalized with the virus has now increased every day for 45 consecutive days.

Friday's 4,714 new COVID-19 cases was also a record-setting case number – it’s the new high set this week, the second day with more than 4,000 cases.

Since moving to Stage 5 on Sept. 26, Indiana’s seven-day average has increased by 317 percent – more than quadrupling the average. In that same time period, 38 counties have more than doubled their number of reported cases. 

Contact Lauren at lchapman@wfyi.org or follow her on Twitter at @laurenechapman_.