Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana hospitals are getting hit with another surge in COVID-19 patients, with patient count up 49% since the low point four weeks ago.
The state’s collection of more than 140 hospitals reported a census of 875 patients with COVID-19 symptoms on Sunday, compared to 584 on March 23.
State health officials have warned in recent weeks that cases and hospitalizations could climb if Hoosiers did not continue to wear masks, socially distance, avoid indoor crowds and take other precautions.
Even though nearly 1.6 million Hoosiers are fully vaccinated, large risks remain as variants of the virus have begun to emerge, State Health Commissioner Kris Box said.
“We have said before we are in a race between the vaccine and the variants,” she said at Gov. Eric Holcomb’s news conference on March 31. “Unfortunately, right now, the variants are picking up steam.”
Indiana’s daily hospital admissions for COVID-19 were 95 on April 12, more than double the number at the recent low of 46 on March 13.
Nationally, the number of daily admissions to hospitals for COVID-19 has climbed 37% from the recent low of 4,057 on March 14 to 5,584 on April 5, the most recent numbers provided by the CDC.
Even so, the uptick is not on the same scale as the massive surge that pushed 3,441 Hoosiers into hospitals at the peak in December.
But Box warned that another surge was not out of the question.
“I say this to remind Hoosiers that COVID is still very much present in our state,” she said last month. “I encourage everyone who is eligible to sign up for a vaccine as soon as possible, and to continue to wear a mask and take precautions.”
After weeks of watching the number of cases and hospitalizations fall, health officials are keeping a close eye on the new uptick, which hit a peak on April 11 of 909 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 symptoms statewide, and has declined slightly since then.
Even so, Indiana is faring better than most of its neighbors in the number of new COVID-19 cases per capita in recent weeks. Indiana reported 119.6 cases per 100,000 people in the past seven days, compared to 533.7 for Michigan, 179.5 for Illinois, and 124 for Ohio.
Only Kentucky was lower, at 96.6. The figures were provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
Seriously with this headline? Hospitalizations went from a near pandemic low of 584 to 875. BTW, that’s a 33.3% increase, not 49%. AND THIS IS STILL 25% OF THE PEAK. Keep selling the fear IBJ. Nicely done….
Nope, do your math again. It’s a 49.8% increase. The headline is correct.
Getting vaccinated will not get rid of the virus, but it will keep symptoms at bay and keep you alive. Please, just get vaccinated.