More Than 100 Hoosiers In Northwest Indiana Have Died From COVID-19

CHICAGO (CBS) – More than 100 people have died from COVID-19 in Lake County, Ind., the second-worst outbreak in the state. A total of 118 fatalities have been reported in a three-county region of Northwest Indiana, state health officials say.

The breakdown: Lake County (2,161 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 103 deaths); Porter (266 cases, 7 deaths) and LaPorte (268 cases, eight deaths.) Due to the severity of the outbreak in Lake County, Gov. Eric Holcomb delayed the gradual reopening of business there until next week.  In Porter and LaPorte, retail business and malls were allowed to reopen this week, at 50 percent capacity. Restaurants and hair salons (by appointment) can begin to open next week with similar capacity restrictions. Some non-essential government services will also be gradually reopened.

In Lake County, the phased in approach won't begin until next week, with the opening of restaurants coming the week after.

Marion County/Indianapolis, which is at the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in Indiana, and Cass, which has an extraordinarily high number of cases for a rural county, were also delayed.

In Marion County, there are now 6,419 cases and 374 deaths. Cass County saw a large spike in cases at the end of April and now reports 1,406 cases and two deaths. Officials say more than 1,000 of those cases are tied to infections at the Tyson Foods meatpacking plant in Logansport. The plant, which reporttedly processes three million pounds of pork a day, was closed briefly for cleaning. It has since reopened on a more limited production schedule. The entire population of the county is fewer than 40,000—compared with about a half-million people in Lake County.

Statewide, officials now report a total of 21,033 cases and 1,213 deaths. In addition, there are 113 deaths that are likely related to COVID-19 but were never confirmed due to a lack of testing.

Here are more details about the state's plans to reopen the economy:

[scribd id=459805449 key=key-EhnkxElDUaJvp3UBkR9L mode=scroll]