Indiana's New COVID-19 Cases, Hospitalizations At New Highs

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s newly reported COVID-19 cases have risen to their highest single-day level of the pandemic, state health officials said Wednesday as the number of coronavirus patients being treated at Indiana hospitals also climbed to a new high.

The 3,756 new coronavirus infections reported Wednesday by the Indiana State Department of Health surpassed the 3,649 new infections the state agency reported on Oct. 29.

The health department's daily statistics update also showed that Indiana had 1,897 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Tuesday. That's the largest number the state has seen since officials began releasing those counts last spring, early in the pandemic.

On Tuesday, the health department had reported that Indiana had 1,867 COVID-19 hospitalizations — a number that surpassed the previous peak of 1,799 COVID-19 hospitalizations reported on April 13.

State health officials also added 25 more coronavirus-related deaths to Indiana’s pandemic toll, raising it to 4,464, including confirmed and presumed coronavirus infections. Indiana's seven-day rolling average of daily deaths stood at 27 on Tuesday, representing one of the highest levels since May and nearly double from a month ago, statistics showed.

Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb was scheduled to take part in a Wednesday afternoon briefing on the pandemic. He has resisted calls for reinstating coronavirus restrictions since lifting nearly all limits in late September, just as Indiana started recording sharp increases in hospitalizations, deaths and new infections.

Holcomb won a second term as governor on Tuesday, defeating Democrat Woody Myers, a former state health commissioner. Myers had called for tougher anti-virus actions as Indiana’s COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations climbed steeply since most state restrictions were lifted in September.

Myers said in his concession speech that he still believed Indiana “could do more for those who have so little and those who need so much.”