Indiana's COVID-19 hospitalizations rise, filling ICU beds

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana reported the state's third-highest single-day total of new coronavirus infections on Friday as the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 across the state continued to rise.

The 2,519 new infections reported by the Indiana State Department of Health fell short of the 2,880 new infections the agency reported Thursday, which was a daily high of newly reported cases in Indiana.

The department's daily update of its coronavirus dashboard also showed 1,548 Hoosiers are currently hospitalized with the coronavirus, the most since May 5. Of those, 434 are in intensive care, which is the most since May 17.

Now, a greater percentage of Indiana's ICU beds are filled than at any other point in the pandemic so far. Almost 70% of beds are in use, according to the health department, leaving 2,150 available ICU beds as of Friday. The number of available ICU beds was more than 3,270 earlier in the pandemic.

Indiana's seven-day rolling average for newly confirmed cases rose to 2,045. That is the highest level the state has seen during the pandemic and well more than double the seven-day rolling average of 858 newly confirmed cases the agency reported a month ago, on Sept. 22.

Indiana's 27 newly recorded COVID-19 deaths raised the state's pandemic death toll to 4,092, including confirmed and presumed coronavirus infections.

To date, more than 1.6 million people have been tested for COVID-19 in Indiana, and a total of 157,713 Hoosiers are known to have had the virus.