Indiana's COVID-19 hospitalizations highest since April

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana's hospitals entered the weekend with their most COVID-19 patients since the first weeks after the coronavirus outbreak reached the state seven months ago, according to state health officials.

The state health department has also added 38 more coronavirus-related deaths to Indiana's toll over past two days. The newly recorded deaths raise Indiana's death toll to 4,130, including confirmed and presumed coronavirus infections, according to the health department's daily update on Sunday.

Indiana reached a seven-day rolling average of 25 daily deaths last week, the highest level since May and nearly double from a month ago.

Gov. Eric Holcomb has resisted calls for reinstating coronavirus restrictions since lifting most limits last month - just as the state started recording sharp increases in hospitalizations and new infections. Holcomb announced last week new steps toward fighting outbreaks in nursing homes, whose residents have accounted for about 55% of Indiana's deaths.

The 1,685 coronavirus hospitalizations as of Friday marked Indiana's most mid-April and also up about double from late September.

Indiana's average daily number of new confirmed COVD-19 cases reached 2,158 as of Saturday. That is up about 160% from a month ago and has continued rising to new highest level the state has seen during the pandemic.