The Indiana State Department of Health announced Jackson County’s first COVID-19 death.
That death, which occurred April 22, was listed as part of the state’s daily COVID-19 Data Report available at coronavirus.in.gov.
During Schneck Medical Center’s community update at noon today, Dr. Eric Fish confirmed the death of the Jackson County resident.
Fish, executive vice president and chief operating officer for the Seymour hospital, said the death had to be listed as COVID-19, but the patient had some co-morbidities that contributed to their death.
He also reported a second person’s death at Schneck has been attributed to COVID-19. That person was a resident of another county.
The state’s daily report also showed 125 Jackson County residents have tested positive for the virus, up from 118 on Monday.
Statewide, there were 57 new COVID-19 deaths reported today, bringing the total to 901. Another 91 probable deaths have been reported.
Of the deaths, 260 were patients in long-term care facilities, and 85 such facilities in the state have had at least one patient death since the state’s first reported COVID-19 death March 13.
Probable deaths are those for which a physician listed COVID-19 as a contributing cause based on X-rays, scans and other clinical symptoms but for which no positive test is on record. Deaths are reported based on when data are received by ISDH and occurred over multiple days.
The state also announced 650 additional Hoosiers have been diagnosed with COVID-19 through testing at ISDH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and private laboratories. That brings to 16,588 the total number of Indiana residents known to have the novel coronavirus following corrections to the previous day’s total.
To date, 87,181 tests have been reported to ISDH, up from 84,476 on Monday.
Fish reported Schneck has administered 895 tests, and 175 of those tests have returned positive, 604 were negative and 106 are pending. The other 10 were insufficient samples.
Of those testing positive, 109 were Jackson County residents, 35 were from Jennings County, 14 from Scott County, six from Washington County and five from Bartholomew. There also has been one person each from Lawrence, Jefferson, Brown, Clark and Johnson test positive after being tested at Schneck.
Nearly 45% of the deaths around the state involved Hoosiers over the age of 80, and 27.9% were between 70 and 79 years old. Another 18.9% were between the ages of 60 and 69.
The state also reported today that 79.5% percent of the 3,180 ventilators are available for use and 42.2% percent of the 3,271 intensive care beds are unused.
Find the story in Wednesday’s Tribune.