New data from the Indiana State Department of Health provides a clearer look at how COVID-19 is affecting Indiana long-term care facilities.
More than half of the state’s coronavirus deaths have occurred among residents of long-term care facilities.
The data from ISDH is different than that released by the federal government's Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services earlier last month. That paired with contact tracing challenges have led public health officials to question the state's response.
Total cases among nursing home residents climbed to more than 6,500 while deaths in those facilities climbed past 1,600. The increase is likely, in part, a result of better data.
Both cases and deaths are likely to grow as 36 facilities have yet to submit data and could face potential fines for not doing so. The Indiana State Department of Health directed all faculties to report data in April.
Before the release, around a half dozen Indiana counties say they received direct guidance from ISDH not to release facility-level data to the public.
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