Coronavirus Deaths In Indiana Rise To 436, Including 33 In Lake County

CHICAGO (CBS) – The total number of deaths from COVID-19 in Indiana jumped 11 percent, state health officials reported on Wednesday. As of Tuesday, a total of 436 patients have died, out of a total of 8,955 Hoosiers so far infected with the novel coronavirus.

Closer to home in Lake County, a total of 876 people are now infected—the second highest number in the state outside of Indianapolis. A total of 33 people have died, also the second highest in the state. Those statewide numbers do not mean that all of those people died in one day.  There is a delay in reporting those cases to the state's health department.

Indianapolis (Marion County) is now reporting 3,204 cases and 155 fatalities. African Americans, which only account for 10 percent of Indiana's population, have been hit especially hard. Nearly 21% of the state's deaths are black patients. Whites, who account for 85 percent of the state population, account for 64% percent of the deaths.  There are  cases in which the race of the patient is not known.

On other counties in Northwest Indiana, Porter reports 130 cases and two deaths. LaPorte, 42 cases and four deaths.  Farther east, in St. Joseph County/South Bend,  there have been five deaths our of 273 patients infected.

The state currently has 45 percent of ICU beds available, but it does not provide a breakdown of those numbers in especially hard hit areas.