After Reaching Pandemic Lows, Indiana Coronavirus Cases Pick Back Up

Evansville IN

02 August, 2021

11:50 AM

Description

By Lauren Chapman, WNIN Aug. 2, 2021 After hitting pandemic lows for new COVID-19 cases, Indiana is seeing new spikes in infections. Wednesday was the second day in a row with more than 700 new cases reported – the highest since May 21. June's daily cases reached a pandemic-low average – just 284 cases per day. But cases have begun to climb again. July's average so far is more than 400 cases per day – a more than 40 percent increase in three weeks. Taking into account population, Benton and Fountain counties lead the increases with more than 100 new cases per 10,000 residents. Since Indiana's pandemic low on July 3, hospitalizations have grown by 50 percent. The Indiana Department of Health reports more than 70 percent of sampled COVID-19 cases in July are the more infectious delta variant – an increase of nearly 40 percent from June. Deaths remain low. In the last two months, only eight counties have reported more than 10 deaths: Marion, Lake, Elkhart, Hamilton, Howard, Allen, St. Joseph and Tippecanoe counties. And statewide, the state has added a little more than 400 new confirmed deaths to its total. Contact Lauren at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter at @laurenechapman_. COVID-19 infections are surging in southwest Indiana and western Kentucky, as the delta variant spreads. Gov. Eric Holcomb opted not to reimpose any COVID-19 restrictions Thursday as he extended the state's public health emergency for another month. Gov. Eric Holcomb won't reimpose any mask mandates in Hoosier schools, only urging students, teachers and staff to mask up amid a surge of COVID-19. Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke says the city has no plans to reinstitute mask mandates, despite new CDC guidance and increases in COVID infections. WNIN is the NPR/PBS affiliate in Evansville, Indiana. We serve Southwestern Indiana, Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois from our multimedia facility located on the Ohio River in downtown Evansville. For the past several years, the recognized quality of our local news has placed us among the best small market radio news organizations in the nation.