INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s total number of deaths among people with confirmed or presumed coronavirus infections has topped 1,900, health officials said Thursday.
The state’s 48 new confirmed COVID-19 deaths occurred as far back as May 2, increasing the total number of such deaths to 1,764, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
The state agency’s statistics also added one death for a total 149 people who have died from probable infections of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus. That increases Indiana’s confirmed or presumed deaths to 1,913 since the first one was recorded on March 15.
Gov. Eric Holcomb has cited a decline in the number of COVID-19-infected people hospitalized and the continued availability of intensive care unit beds to treat those most seriously ill for the state being able to further relax business and gathering restrictions starting Friday.
The latest state statistics showed 410 COVID-19 patients were in the intensive care units of Indiana hospitals and that 39% of ICU beds remained available as of Wednesday. That’s 115 fewer coronavirus patients in those ICUs than on May 5, and 211 fewer than on April 23.