INDIANAPOLIS — Make it seven weeks.

COVID-19 activity has continued to rise for seven consecutive weeks, continuing a slow increase with cases remaining over 1,000 per day across the state.

Those numbers continue to tick up, even as testing patterns have changed and statewide counts aren’t as complete as they once were when all testing totals ran through state labs and health departments.

COVID-19 cases were up again week-over-week, rising to 1,238 cases per day over the last seven days, according to the state dashboard. That’s up again by a small amount from last week’s seven-day average of 1,144 cases per day.

Seven weeks ago, statewide case totals were under 250 per day at all-time lows, but numbers have continued to climb week-to-week ever since.

Current case counts are also likely lower than they would have been in similar situations in the past due to the rise of at-home testing and results that may not be reported to labs or health care facilities.

Although case numbers have continued to tick up slowly, hospitalization numbers remain relatively flat, with 358 people hospitalized for treatment with COVID-19. That’s up slightly from 346 patients a week back.

COVID-19 deaths remain very low, however, averaging just one per day.

The four-county area did see two new deaths attributable to COVID-19 this past week, with one in Steuben County and one in LaGrange County.

All-time, Noble County has suffered 154 total deaths attributable to COVID-19, followed by DeKalb County at 149, Steuben County with 118 and LaGrange County at 101.

A week ago, the state authorized deployment of booster shots for children age 5-11 who had previously received a full vaccine dose more than six months ago.

That’s a small proportion of the population — those children are the least-vaccinated age group in Indiana with just 21% of kids having received a full vaccine regimen before.

Across all age groups, only about half of people who were vaccinated followed up and received a booster shot six months or more following their first set of doses.
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