Indiana’s COVID-19 case count on Wednesday climbed above 900 for the first time since last week. The Indiana State Department of Health has reported a relatively low number of cases this week in comparison to last week when the state saw three consecutive days with more than 1,000 positive cases.
On Wednesday, the ISDH reported 971 new positive cases confirmed between Aug. 14 and Aug. 25 and 18 new deaths — 17 of which have occurred since August began. Indiana’s state total rose to 89,359 confirmed cases and 3,041 COVID-19 deaths.
The state reported 11,955 new individuals tested totaling 1,022,537 Hoosiers tested with a 6.6% seven-day positivity rate.
In Monroe County, another 25 residents tested positive for COVID-19 bringing the county total up to 993, while the death total remained at 36. The county reported it has tested 26,285 residents with a seven-day positivity rate of 2.1%. If the county average remains below 5%, Monroe County Community School Corporation will reopen for all students to return to in-person classes.
Indiana University tested more 39,000 students before the first day of classes but will conduct semester-long mitigation testing of students and staff, according to a press release on Wednesday. The university will test thousands of individuals every week to detect potential COVID-19 clusters in the early stages. Those who test positive will be contacted by an IU contact tracer and receive detailed instructions on isolation and next steps, including downloading the Twistle app. The app will monitor symptoms and alert an IU Health nurse if symptoms worsen.
