Montgomery County’s confirmed cases of COVID-19 breached the 100-mark over the weekend.
As of Sunday, the area’s new total was 101. Six cases were announced on Saturday and two more on Sunday. Health department staff have launched contact investigations in connection with the two additional cases. To date, no local deaths have been linked to the virus.
The Indiana State Department of Health announced Sunday that 645 additional Hoosiers have been diagnosed with COVID-19 through testing at ISDH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and private laboratories. That brings to 19,933 the total number of Indiana residents known to have the novel coronavirus following corrections to the previous day’s total.
While the number of cases has increased statewide, intensive care unit and ventilator capacity remain steady. As of Sunday, 43.7 percent of ICU beds and 80.4 percent of ventilators were available at hospitals throughout the state.
A total of 1,132 Hoosiers have been confirmed to have died of COVID-19, an increase of 17 over the previous day. Another 114 probable deaths have been reported. Probable deaths are those for which a physician listed COVID-19 as a contributing cause based on X-rays, scans and other clinical symptoms but for which no positive test is on record. Deaths are reported based on when data are received by ISDH and occurred over multiple days.
To date, 108,859 tests have been reported to ISDH, up from 104,141 on Saturday.
Marion County had the most new cases, at 193. Other counties with more than 10 new cases were Allen (19), Carroll (16), Cass (70), Dearborn (16), Elkhart (16), Hamilton (14), Hendricks (19), Johnson (38), LaPorte (22), Lake (43), St. Joseph (13), Tippecanoe (36) and White (25). The Lake County totals include results from East Chicago and Gary, which have their own health departments.
ISDH will offer drive-thru testing clinics this week across the state. The testing is open to symptomatic healthcare workers, first responders or essential workers, individuals who have symptoms and are in a high-risk category due to age, weight or underlying health conditions and those who live in the same residence as one of the priority categories. Participants should bring a driver’s license or other state-issued identification card. Tests will be conducted as long as supplies last and will be limited to one individual per vehicle.
The nearest state testing site is at Lafayette Jeff High School, 1801 S. 18th St., Lafayette. Its hours of operation will be 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EDT on May 6-9. Other sites, with varying operation hours, are in East Chicago, New Castle, Plymoth and Seymour.
Locally, testing continues at the county’s drive-thru site at Crawfordsville High School. A physician’s order and appointment is required at the site. The CHS site mainly tests first responders and healthcare workers as well as people over 65, pregnant women and those with underlying chronic medical conditions who all have symptoms.
The testing program is made possible through the health department, Franciscan Health Crawfordsville, Franciscan Physician Network, Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency, Alverno Laboratories, the Crawfordsville Police Department and the Crawfordsville Community School Corp.
For more information, visit the ISDH COVID-19 dashboard at www.coronavirus.in.gov for additional information on cases. The dashboard is updated at noon daily. All cases are listed by county of residence.
