Indiana tracks coronavirus cases weeks before 1st confirmed

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana's first coronavirus infections occurred at least a couple weeks before the first illness for a resident was confirmed in early March, the state health commissioner said Wednesday.

That would indicate the virus could have been spreading around Indiana for perhaps six weeks before the statewide stay-at-home order took effect March 25.

'œWe tracked cases that we thought probably went back to at least mid-February,'ť said the health commissioner, Dr. Kristina Box.

Indiana's coronavirus death toll reached 661 as the state health department added 31 newly reported deaths on Wednesday. That total will jump up later this week as the official count starts including deaths that doctors blame on COVID-19 without confirmation of the illness from test results.

The earlier Indiana infections are in line with the determination of two coronavirus deaths in California in early and mid-February, showing that the virus was spreading in the U.S. well before health officials realized it.

Box said Indiana's number of presumptive deaths will add fewer than 100 fatalities to the state total. She said some respiratory illnesses before the state's first confirmed COVID-19 infection on March 6 were undoubtably from the coronavirus.

'œThere will be individuals that never hit the hospital system that may very well have had COVID-19 and they won't know that until we have that good antibody test out there to show that they are immune,'ť Box said.

Most of the 31 newly recorded COVID-19 deaths occurred between Friday and Tuesday, but they dated as far back as April 2, according to the Indiana State Department of Health. The state's first recorded coronavirus death occurred March 15.

The state agency said 394 more Indiana residents have been diagnosed with coronavirus infection, bringing the state's total to nearly 12,500 even as testing has been largely limited to those seriously ill and health care workers. The agency said Wednesday's new test results were lower than expected because of a technology issue and shouldn't be regarded as a decline in new infections.

State statistics show at least 158 COVID-19 deaths occurred in the seven-day period through Tuesday - a pace exceeding Indiana's average of about 150 flu deaths over a seven-month period in recent years.

Gov. Eric Holcomb said comparing the dangers of the flu and COVID-19 were 'œnot close.'ť

'œYou're not going in and getting a shot and having the confidence that you can go back to work,'ť Holcomb said.