Indiana officials add 17 coronavirus deaths to state's toll

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana health officials Friday added 17 more coronavirus-related deaths to the state's toll as the pandemic continues nearly six months after the first confirmed COVID-19 infection in the state.

Indiana's newly recorded deaths raise the state's death toll to 3,350, including confirmed and presumed coronavirus cases, according to the Indiana State Department of Health. Most of the new deaths occurred over the past week, but two dated back to early August.

The statewide numbers of newly confirmed infections and hospitalizations have remained steady in recent weeks, but the additional fatalities give Indiana at least 332 coronavirus deaths during August, or more than 10 per day. That's up from the 287 such deaths reported during July.

COVID-19 fatalities in Indiana remain far below the level seen earlier in the outbreak, when at least 1,041 people died during April and 917 during May. Indiana recorded its first confirmed coronavirus infection on March 6 and its first death nine days later.

Indiana's death rate during July and August of about 10 per 100,000 people was slightly lower than the rates in Ohio and Illinois, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The state's rate, however, was greater than Michigan's rate of about 5.5 and Kentucky's rate of about 8.

___

This story has been corrected to show that there were 17 coronavirus-related deaths recorded by the state Friday, not 18.