INDIANAPOLIS — Friday's updates on the coronavirus pandemic.
ISDH daily update
The Indiana State Department of Health reports 2,519 new positive cases of COVID-19 27 more deaths from the virus. That brings totals to 157,713 cases and 3,858 confirmed deaths throughout the state. There are an additional 234 presumed death from the virus.
The seven-day positivity rate remains high — 6.9 percent for all tests between Oct. 10 and Oct. 16, and 13 percent for unique individuals in the time span.
On Thursday, there were 1,548 Hoosiers in the hospital being treated for COVID-19. That's the highest number since May 4, when there were 1,579 hospitalized COVID-19 patients. About 30 percent of the state's ICU beds are available for use. COVID-19 patients account for just over 20 percent of the ICU beds in use. The state does still have about 78 percent of ventilators available in the state to use.
Grand Park reports successful summer
Grand Park officials report a successful reactivation of the Westfield sports complex during the pandemic.
Data from mid-May through Labor Day showed more than 613,000 visits to campus, with no COVID-19 outbreaks detected because of campus activity.
Athletes participated in tournaments and leagues hosted by Bullpen Tournaments for diamond sports, the privately-owned Pacers Athletic Center for basketball, and the Grand Park Sports Campus team for field sports.
“We looked at the situation and instead of closing up and waiting until next year, our team worked with the Governor’s Office, national leaders in youth sports, local health officials, event organizers, families and athletes to figure out how to get kids active as safely as possible,” said Westfield Mayor Andy Cook. “I am happy to report that, of the young athletes competing at Grand Park, to our knowledge, there were no spikes in cases due to campus activity. We worked hard to convince the community we would not be injecting COVID-19 into our city and convince visitors they could have a safe visit.”
Grand Park closed March 16 causing cancellations of more than 255 activities.
The campus reactivated with a phased approach beginning May 24.
Indiana reports daily high of nearly 3K new COVID-19 cases
Indiana health officials reported a new daily high of 2,880 new coronavirus infections and 42 more COVID-19 deaths Thursday. The 2,880 new infections reported Thursday by the Indiana State Department of Health topped the 2,521 new infections the state agency reported Saturday that had been Indiana’s daily high of newly reported cases.
The department’s daily update also shows that Indiana’s seven-day rolling average for newly confirmed cases rose to 2,019. That is the highest level the state has seen during the pandemic. Indiana’s 42 newly recorded COVID-19 deaths raises the state’s pandemic death toll to 4,065, including confirmed and presumed coronavirus infections.
Latest US, world numbers
There have been more than 8.4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. as of 3:30 a.m. ET Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University. There have been more than 223,000 deaths and 3.35 million people recovered.
Worldwide, there have been more than 41.71 million confirmed cases with more than 1.137 million deaths and 28.35 million recoveries.
The real number of people infected by the virus around the world is believed to be much higher — perhaps 10 times higher in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — given testing limitations and the many mild cases that have gone unreported or unrecognized.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness like pneumonia, or death.
U.N. chief 'very frustrated'
The U.N. chief says it’s “very frustrating” that leaders of the 20 major industrialized nations didn’t come together in March and establish a coordinated response to grapple with the coronavirus in all countries as he proposed.
The result, he says, is every country is taking its own sometimes contradictory actions, and the virus is moving “from east to west, north to south,” with second waves of infections now affecting many countries.
Ahead of the Group of 20 summit next month, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in an interview with The Associated Press that he hopes the international community now understands “they need to be much more coordinated in fighting the virus.”
Guterres says the United Nations also will be “strongly advocating” during the G-20 summit for a guarantee that when a vaccine is available, “it becomes indeed available and affordable for everyone, everywhere.”