HANCOCK COUNTY — Two more Hancock County residents have died from COVID-19, the state reported Wednesday, raising the county’s death toll from the novel coronavirus to 14.
Craig Felty, vice president, chief nursing officer and chief operating officer of Hancock Regional Hospital, said one of the deaths was a patient at the hospital. The person was in the 60-70 age category, had underlying health conditions and had died recently.
Information on the other death added Wednesday was not immediately available.
The Indiana State Department of Health has added five Hancock County residents to COVID-19’s death toll since last Friday, when Gov. Eric Holcomb announced an easing of restrictions that commenced Monday.
Only three positive cases were added to Hancock County’s total Wednesday, continuing a single-digit daily trend that’s persisted since April 28. Felty said earlier this week that he expects data to move that way after an outbreak at a local long-term care facility skewed the numbers.
While Hancock County’s positive cases trickle upward, total tests continue to be added at a steady pace, with 74 more tallied by Wednesday for a total of 1,988.
Indiana recorded more than 800 positive COVID-19 cases Wednesday, raising its total to 21,870. Another 51 deaths raised that total to 1,264.
Dr. Kristina Box, Indiana state health commissioner, responded to a question during a news conference Wednesday noting that Indiana has the highest number of deaths per capita among states starting to reopen.
“What I want to emphasize is that we would expect to see more Hoosiers severely impacted by COVID-19 because our overall health metrics for things like smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity are higher than many other states, and those are the risk factors for severe illness from COVID-19,” Box said.
The United Health Foundation listed Indiana 41st in its 2019 health rankings.
The Indiana State Department of Health has recorded a total of 120,496 COVID-19 tests for which results have been received as of Wednesday, an addition of more than 4,600 from the day before.
Indiana’s testing data is expected to start rising after a testing campaign led by OptumServe Health Services got under way Wednesday in 20 locations across the state. The campaign plans to add 30 more testing sites by the middle of the month. None of the initial 20 sites are in Hancock County, however.
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COVID-19 data
Hancock County
- 236 positive cases
- 14 deaths
- 1,988 tests
Indiana
- 21,870 positive cases
- 1,264 deaths
- 120,496 tests
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