INDIANAPOLIS — Like many states, including Kentucky, Indiana is seeing an increase in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. Here are the latest numbers that we will update daily in this story.
Sunday, August 16
The Indiana State Department of Health announced 750 new positive cases of COVID-19 Sunday that were reported to that state on Friday and Saturday. Indiana now has 80,415 confirmed positive cases since the pandemic began.
Three new deaths reported Sunday occurred this week, and brings the state's mortality total to 2,924.
More than 900-thousand people have been tested, and just under 9% are coming back positive as of Sunday.
Saturday, August 15
The Indiana State Department of Health announced that 1,096 additional Hoosiers have been diagnosed with COVID-19 through testing done between July 30 and Friday. That means 79,676 Indiana residents are known to have the novel coronavirus since testing started.
A total of 2,921 Hoosiers have died from the virus, with 15 added to Friday's total. Those 15 deaths happened between July 6 and Friday.
To date, 897,615 tests have been reported to ISDH, up from 886,489 on Friday.
As of today, more than 35 percent of ICU beds and nearly 81 percent of ventilators are available across the state.
Friday, August 14
The Indiana State Department of Health is reporting 1,079 new cases of COVID-19 and eight more deaths.
Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill sent a letter to Gov. Eric Holcomb and leaders of the Indiana General Assembly calling for a special legislative session to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In a republican form of government, we do not govern by executive decree,” Attorney General Hill wrote in the letter. “We govern by legislation, enforcement, and adjudication carried out by separately elected (and appointed) officials. The Indiana Constitution so divides government functions to prevent concentration of power and to facilitate public debate.”
Hill said the emergency used to justify executive actions has now become a long-term issue that deserves the attention of the people’s representatives, Attorney General Hill adds.
Thursday, August 13
The state health department is reporting 1,046 more cases and 20 additional deaths from COVID-19 Thursday. That makes 77,565 total positive cases and 2,898 total deaths.
The seven-day positivity rate from July 31 through Aug. 6 increased slightly to 7.8 percent. The total positivity rate since testing began is 8.8 percent.
There have been a total of 1,114,002 tests administered to 877,970 Hoosiers since the beginning of the pandemic.
As of Wednesday night, there were 911 COVID-19 patients in the hospital — the most in a week.
Wednesday, August 12
The state health department is reporting 671 more positive cases of COVID-19 and 15 additional deaths. There are a total of 208 probable deaths — those expected to have been due to COVID-19 but without a positive test result.
Indiana has now had a total of 76,522 positive cases and 2,878 deaths due to the virus.
Younger people continue to make up a large portion of the cases. As of Wednesday, Hoosiers younger than 50 made up 60 percent of the cases.
The Big 12 released an updated 2020 football schedule Wednesday, a day after the Board of Directors voted to move forward with the fall sports season.
The Big Ten and Pac-12 canceled their fall seasons on Tuesday in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the ACC and SEC released statements saying they were moving forward with the fall season.
The conference announced that teams will play an abbreviated 9+1 schedule. Schools will play 9 conference games and teams have the option to play 1 additional non-conference game, which must take place prior to Sept. 26.
All fall sports competitions will start after Sept.1, the conference said, and volleyball and soccer matches will be limited to conference games only, to ensure consistent safety protocols are following, the Big 12 said in their statement.
Tuesday, August 11
The Indiana State Department of Health is reporting 884 new cases of coronavirus. That puts the state at more than 75,000 confirmed cases. The positivity rate also bumped up on the 7-day average to 7.7 percent.
Indiana also recorded 25 more deaths with 22 of them being since Aug. 6. The state has now had 2,863 deaths from COVID-19.
Monday, August 10
The Indiana State Department of Health is reporting 673 new cases of COVID-19. It is the first time in the past five days that Indiana has reported fewer than one thousand new cases. The new cases put Indiana at a total of 74,992. The positivity rate average over the past seven days is holding at 7.5 percent.
The state is also reporting three more deaths for a total of 2,838 since the start of the pandemic.
Parents of Avon High School students got a message Sunday night about a big change next week.
Monday school will be in session as normal. Then on Tuesday, the high school will be virtual learning only for everyone for the rest of the week.
The message to families says there have been five confirmed COVID-19 cases at the high school, so the school district will take this time to figure out how to handle things moving forward, whether it's a hybrid approach or e-learning completely.
Below is the full statement on Avon High School's website:
Avon Schools is committed to making adjustments as needed to best meet the needs of our students. Beginning Tuesday, August 11th, Avon High School will transition to e-Learning for the remainder of the week. Students will attend in-person on Monday, August 10th and then work with their assigned teachers for the remainder of the week at home. ACSC administrators will use this time to continue to review and finalize options for a hybrid approach at Avon High School. A hybrid schedule will allow for fewer students in the school by using both in-person and online instruction. We are planning to utilize a hybrid schedule for the weeks of August 17th and August 24th. It is our current plan to transition back to fully in-person instruction at AHS beginning on August 31st. At this time, no adjustments in school schedules are occurring at any other Avon schools and they will continue in-person instruction next week as scheduled.
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