Local health officials on Thursday reported five additional coronavirus-related deaths, bringing the county’s death toll to 45.
The newly reported deaths included four Greenwood residents and one Franklin resident, ranging in age from 75 to 91, said Betsy Swearingen, director of the Johnson County Health Department. Newly reported deaths are not necessarily new deaths.
The county health department also reported 33 more laboratory confirmed COVID-19 cases, bringing to 489 the number of cases in the county.
The Indiana State Department of Health on Thursday said the number of positive cases for COVID-19 in the state has risen to 13,039, following the emergence of 601 more cases.
The daily count is the highest since 613 new cases were reported April 17.
The state reported 341 new cases on Wednesday, 411 on Tuesday, 476 on Monday, 569 on Sunday and 487 on Saturday.
The state said a technology issue that was to blame for lower counts this week has been resolved.
The state said Thursday that the cumulative death toll in the state rose to 706, up from 661 the previous day—an increase of 45.
The department said this week it would now include presumptive positive deaths in its totals. Presumptive positive deaths are not necessarily verified by tests, but includes deaths in which a doctor listed COVID-19 as an underlying cause.
New positive cases, deaths and tests have occurred over a range of dates but were reported to the department in the previous day.
The department reported the state’s first case on March 6.
The state reported that 72,040 people have been tested so far, up from 69,470 in Wednesday’s report—an increase of 2,570 tests.
The ISDH said the test numbers reflect only those tests reported to the department and the numbers should not be characterized as a comprehensive total.
Nearby Indianapolis reported 4,408 cumulative cases—up from 4,263 the previous day, an increase of 145 cases.
The state reported 228 cumulative deaths in the city, up from 214 in Wednesday’s report. The state said 20,355 people have been tested.
As for surrounding counties, Hamilton had 645 positive cases; Hendricks 565; Boone 172; Hancock 160; Madison 359; Morgan 125; and Shelby 145.
Every Indiana county has at least one case.
The department said 43.3% of the state’s intensive care unit beds were still available. About 20% are being used by COVID-19 patients.
The department also said 77% of the state’s ventilators were available.
Health officials say Indiana has far more coronavirus cases—possibly thousands more—than those indicated by the number of tests.
As of Thursday morning, 843,981 cases had been reported in the United States, with 46,851 deaths, according to a running tally maintained by health researchers at Johns Hopkins University & Medicine. More than 77,000 people have recovered.
More than 2.65 million cases have been reported globally, with 185,434 deaths. More than 723,377 people have recovered.
The Indianapolis Business Journal contributed to this report.
