1:48 P.M. update
COLUMBUS, Ind. — Bartholomew County has reached another heartbreaking milestone during the pandemic: 100 deaths from COVID-19.
On Thursday, Bartholomew County became the 22nd county in Indiana to eclipse 100 deaths since the pandemic took hold, according to figures released Friday by the Indiana State Department of Health.
Deaths from COVID-19 in Bartholomew County have accelerated over the holidays, with 36 reported since Thanksgiving and 14 during the first 21 days of January.
Overall, roughly 1 in 838 people in Bartholomew County have died from the virus over the past 10 months. The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the county was reported March 15, with the first death reported April 3.
By comparison, a total of 183 Bartholomew County residents died from influenza or pneumonia during a 15-year period from 2003 to 2017, according to the latest figures available from the Indiana State Department of Health.
“It’s a milestone we hoped we would never reach,” said Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop. “But unfortunately, we’ve gotten there and we know that we’ve going to have a ways to go. We will work as hard as we can to get folks vaccinated and get to the end of this pandemic. But we all need to understand that that’s going to take some time.”
Lienhoop said he hopes the tragic milestone is “encouragement to mask up and maintain our physical distance from others and be smart about crowds.”
For more on this story, see Saturday’s Republic.
ORIGINAL STORY:
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Department of Health today announced that 3,560 additional Hoosiers have been diagnosed with COVID-19 through testing at state and private laboratories. That brings to 605,426 the number of Indiana residents now known to have had the novel coronavirus following corrections to the previous day’s dashboard.
A total of 9,267 Hoosiers are confirmed to have died from COVID-19, an increase of 49 from the previous day. Another 375 probable deaths have been reported based on clinical diagnoses in patients for whom no positive test is on record. Deaths are reported based on when data are received by the state and occurred over multiple days.
To date, 2,879,896 unique individuals have been tested in Indiana, up from 2,867,990 on Thursday. A total of 6,652,500 tests, including repeat tests for unique individuals, have been reported to the state Department of Health since Feb. 26, 2020.
Bartholomew County reported 6,443 positive tests (up 64) with 100 deaths (up one) as of Friday.
Surrounding counties reported:
- Jackson County: 4,219 positive cases (up 12) with 47 deaths (no change).
- Jennings County: 1,997 positive cases (up 19) with 36 deaths (no change).
- Decatur County: 2,465 positive cases (up 18) with 83 deaths (no change).
- Shelby County: 4,138 positive cases (up 29) with 81 deaths (no change).
- Johnson County: 14,974 positive cases (up 115) with 293 deaths (up one).
- Brown County: 875 positive cases (up three) with 34 deaths (up one).
To find testing sites around the state, including a site at the FairOaks Mall in Columbus, visit www.coronavirus.in.gov and click on the COVID-19 testing information link.
Hoosiers age 70 and older, along with healthcare workers, long-term care residents and first responders, are now eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. To schedule, visit https://ourshot.in.gov or call 211. Additional locations and appointments are being added as more vaccine becomes available.
