Nearly 90,000 Hoosiers age 80 or older have made appointments to get the COVID-19 vaccine, while the Indiana Department of Health reported the arrival of a new strain of the virus.
The IDOH recorded Monday 3,726 new positive cases and 30 new COVID-19 deaths, increasing state totals to 567,338 cases and 8,643 deaths. Indiana documented nearly 500 virus-related deaths over the past week, despite deaths and hospitalizations trending downward.
The state reported 2,537 Hoosiers hospitalized due to the virus - the lowest number since Nov. 9 - and COVID-19 patients occupy 26.4% of ICU beds with 26.8% of beds still available.
People age 80 and older make up more than half of Indiana’s COVID-19 deaths but less than 4% of the state population.
Also on Monday, the IDOH announced that a new strain of the COVID-19 virus has been identified in Indiana. State health officials say this strain, first identified in the United Kingdom last fall, does not cause more severe symptoms but can be more easily transmitted.
Indiana has administered more than 6 million tests since the beginning of the pandemic with a seven-day positivity rate of 16.5% — the highest rate since Dec. 2.
Monroe County recorded 55 new cases, bringing the county total to 8,765. The death toll remained the same at 102. The county has administered more than 235,000 tests with a 7.7% seven-day positivity rate.
COVID-19 In Schools
On the IDOH COVID-19 school dashboard, the state listed more than 20,000 positive cases among students and more than 9,500 cases among teachers and staff. Only 170 schools have no reported cases, while 1,896 schools have reported one or more cases. More than 300 schools have still not reported COVID-19 data to the state.
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