Indiana virus spread stays high while hospitalizations dip

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Despite a slight dip in statewide hospitalizations for COVID-19, more Indiana counties are labeled high risk for virus spread, and intensive care units are still stressed by a surge in cases.

Nearly all Indiana counties remain in the higher risk categories for COVID-19 spread on the state Health Department's risk ratings. The ratings, which are updated every Wednesday, placed 25 of Indiana's 92 counties in the highest-risk red category, which was three more than last week and the most since mid-January.

Sixty-six counties received the next-highest rating, orange. Only one county, Tippecanoe, was in the lower-level yellow category. For the fifth straight week, no counties were in the lowest-level rating, blue.

Last month, when the highly contagious delta variant was still getting a foothold in the state, just one county was listed as red and 62 had yellow or blue ratings.

Indiana had 2,436 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 on Tuesday, 251 fewer than the latest peak two weeks ago but still nearly double the number of mid-August and a level not seen since January, according to state health data.

Meanwhile, 685 COVID-19 patients were being treated in intensive care units, accounting for 30.8% of the available beds in the state's ICUs, which were at nearly 82% capacity. Over the course of the last two weeks, ICU admission rates have reached the highest levels recorded this year.

About 55% of Indiana residents were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Wednesday, which was the 15th-lowest rate among the states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. State health officials said 98% of people who were recently hospitalized in Indiana for COVID-19 were not vaccinated.

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Casey Smith is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.