Indiana has surpassed 2 million confirmed COVID-19 cases. Cases have slowly – but steadily – risen since October.
Indiana averaged 614.1 new COVID-19 cases per day in October. In November, that rose to 902.1 new cases per day. In December so far, the state has averaged 1,202 new cases per day.
Those are just the confirmed cases reported to the Indiana Department of Health – the availability of at-home tests means many aren’t represented in this data.
COVID-19 cases throughout the U.S. have been on the rise for the last few months, mostly attributed to the BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 variants – which elude monoclonal antibody treatments and the original vaccine schedules. Those two strains account for more than 60 percent of sequenced tests nationwide according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Epidemiologists say the bivalent boosters provide effective protection against the strains.
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With that steady increase in cases, hospitalizations have also slowly risen. The COVID-19 hospital census surpassed 700 for the first time since September. But IDOH reports new admissions are starting to fall.
Deaths have remained relatively low – Indiana has averaged fewer than 10 COVID-19 deaths per day since March.
Contact Lauren at lchapman@wfyi.org or follow her on Twitter at @laurenechapman_.