HANCOCK COUNTY — The county recorded 12 new COVID-19 deaths Thursday, 11 of which have occurred throughout the pandemic and came to light through a statewide audit.
The addition spurred by the audit represents almost 9% of the county’s total novel coronavirus fatalities, which now stands at 123.
Of the 12 recently recorded deaths, six were age 80 or older, three were in their 70s and three were in their 60s. Seven were men and five were women.
Indiana added 1,507 historical COVID-19 deaths to its total Thursday due to the audit, which reviewed 2020 and 2021 COVID-19 death records and test results. The state’s total rose to 11,231.
Dr. Kristina Box, Indiana state health officer, said Wednesday that the audit required matching every death certificate indicating COVID-19 as the cause of death or a contributing cause of death to a positive COVID-19 test.
“Please understand that never before have local and state departments of health had to present data in real time before it was fully vetted,” Box said.
The audit also called for working through death certificates from late December 2020 and January 2021 that came in following the launch of the state’s new birth and death registry system, Box said.
An analysis of COVID-19 deaths will result in another data spike next week, this time for long-term care facilities. Box said the state has identified 90 long-term care facility COVID-19 deaths that have already been accounted for in the state’s overall death totals, but had yet to be assigned to a facility. Those will be added to the state’s dashboard the next time long-term care facility figures are updated, which is Wednesday, Feb. 10.
Hancock County also added 42 new cases Thursday, raising its total to 7,083. The state added 2,403 new cases, bringing its total to 633,690.
As of early Thursday, more than 9,000 Hancock County residents had received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and more than 3,200 were fully vaccinated. Statewide, almost 638,000 had received a first dose and 178,560 were fully vaccinated.
