Indiana reports 79 more COVID-19 deaths, 6,400 more cases

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Another 79 Hoosiers have died from COVID-19 and more than 6,400 additional state residents have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, state health officials said Thursday.

The new deaths, which occurred over several days - including 37 on Tuesday alone - raised Indiana's pandemic toll to 7,180, including both confirmed and presumed infections, the Indiana State Department of Health said.

The state agency said that another 6,458 Hoosiers have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, increasing number of Indiana residents known to have had the virus to 447,190.

Indiana's hospitals are currently treating more than four times the number of COVID-19 patients they were in September, and health officials remain worried about hospitals becoming overwhelmed. As of Wednesday, the state's hospitals were treating 3,147 COVID-19 patients.

State health officials said Wednesday that as Indiana's front-line health care workers begin receiving the state's first shots of Pfizer's vaccine against COVID-19, uncertainties remain about future numbers of incoming doses and who should be inoculated next.

Front-line health care personnel - including those in hospitals, long-term care facilities and emergency medical service providers - are first-up to get the shots in Indiana.

But Indiana's chief medical officer, Dr. Lindsay Weaver, asked other residents on Wednesday to 'œplease be patient - your turn is coming as more vaccine arise.'ť