Indiana tops 1,900 in coronavirus-related deaths

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana's total number of deaths among people with confirmed or presumed coronavirus infections has topped 1,900, health officials said Thursday.

The state's 48 new confirmed COVID-19 deaths occurred as far back as May 2, increasing the total number of such deaths to 1,764, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.

The state agency's statistics also added one death for a total 149 people who have died from probable infections of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus. That increases Indiana's confirmed or presumed deaths to 1,913 since the first one was recorded on March 15.

Gov. Eric Holcomb has cited a decline in the number of COVID-19-infected people hospitalized and the continued availability of intensive care unit beds to treat those most seriously ill for the state being able to further relax business and gathering restrictions starting Friday.

The latest state statistics showed 410 COVID-19 patients were in the intensive care units of Indiana hospitals and that 39% of ICU beds remained available as of Wednesday. That's 115 fewer coronavirus patients in those ICUs than on May 5, and 211 fewer than on April 23.

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Indiana saw about 30,000 more people file for unemployment benefits last week as business struggles continue despite the easing of the state's coronavirus restrictions.

Job losses have slowed in recent weeks, but roughly 670,000 people have sought jobless aid in Indiana over the past nine weeks since business closures swept across the country, the U.S. Department of Labor statistics said Thursday.

The number of initial unemployment applications submitted in Indiana last week was about the same as the week before and well below the 100,000-plus the state received for three straight weeks in late March and early April. Indiana was receiving fewer than 3,000 claims per week and had a 3.2% unemployment rate before the pandemic hit the country.

Indiana has also reported processing nearly 69,000 applications for a separate federal program set up for self-employed and gig workers.

The federal statistics show Indiana was paying unemployment benefits to about 285,000 people during the week ending May 2, while only about 13,000 people received those payments a year earlier.

Nationally, more than 2.4 million laid-off workers applied for unemployment benefits last week. April's unemployment rate reached 14.7%, the highest since the Depression.