State Health Commissioner Dr Kris Box is hopeful about some of the state’s COVID-19 statistics. During Friday’s COVID-19 press conference, Box noted that the number of patients admitted to the hospital appears to be on a downward trend, going from 170 on April 1 to 71 this past Tuesday.
“The number of COVID patients and people under investigation peaked about 30 days ago,” Box reported. “As we’ve said, we do expect to see more cases as people start to get out more, so we will be monitoring this data closely as we look at more parts of the state to reopen.”
Box shared some updates from the Regenstrief Institute’s analysis of most of the state’s COVID-19 cases. It found that 27 percent of patients have gone to the emergency room, 19 percent have been hospitalized, and four percent have been admitted to an intensive care unit.
“Seventy-two percent of hospitalized patients have been discharged,” Box noted. “Eleven percent are likely still hospitalized, whereas 17 percent of hospitalized patients, unfortunately, have been known to die.”
Regenstrief’s online dashboard also breaks those data down by county. Marshall County has had eight COVID-19 patients visit the emergency room, according to Regenstrief. Five patients there have been hospitalized. Three of those have already been discharged, while one has died. Starke County has had four COVID-19 emergency room visits and two hospitalizations, with one of those already discharged. Five of Pulaski County’s COVID-19 patients visited the emergency room. Three have been hospitalized, and one was discharged. However, the COVID-19 numbers on Regenstrief’s dashboard are sometimes different from the state’s official count.
Box also reported significant progress toward the state’s goal of being able to test everyone with symptoms, despite some challenges. Most recently, the accuracy of the rapid COVID-19 testing machines has been called into question. “It is disturbing to see the reports out that the Abbott ID machine, if you are known to be positive, maybe by PCR, the nasal pharyngeal swab, you actually, on the Abbot machine, 30 to 40 percent of the time, may test negative,” Box said. “That’s very concerning for individuals that may be symptomatic at that time and shedding quite a bit of virus.”
Box said her department is encouraging those who use the machines to verify questionable negative tests with other methods. One of the main uses for the rapid tests so far in Indiana has been to test prison inmates.
