Lake County, Northwest Indiana Set Single Day COVID-19 Case Record
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Northwest Indiana set a single day record for reported COVID-19 cases, led by the highest case load ever in Lake County.
The state health department reported 390 cases across the five-county region, with a record 238 in Lake County alone. The region's seven-day average positivity rate now stands at 9.8%. There were no deaths reported in the region on Friday. Lake County is now averaging about 184 cases a day. The region is averaging more than 300 cases a day, about triple the number seen at the end of last month.
The number of people being hospitalized for COVID is surging, and is nearing the record numbers set near the start of the pandemic in April. The number of COVID patients requiring ICU care is also rising. At the start of October, about 10% of the region's ICU beds were being used to treat COVID patients. That percentage has now doubled.
Statewide, officials reported the second-worst case load ever, following Thursday's record of more then 2,800 cases. On Friday, the state announced 2,519 new cases, 27 deaths and a positivity rate of 6.9%. Nearly 4,100 Hoosiers have now died of COVID-19, making it the third-leading cause of death, behind heart disease and cancer, based on past CDC mortality statistics.
