Indiana Health Officials Provide COVID-19 Update in Friday Briefing

Indianapolis - In a Friday afternoon briefing, State Health Commissioner Kris Box and Chief Medical Officer Lindsay Weaver addressed the media.

"I've heard other medical professionals across the country state that this is the darkest time in the pandemic," Box said. "Unfortunately, I share those sentiments."

Indiana's State Health Commissioner's opening remarks painted a grim picture:

"Indiana has experienced its worst COVID-19 surge since last winter. Our positivity rate has risen to 10.8%, fueled by a significant increase in new cases. As a reminder, our positivity rate was just over 2% at the end of June. Since Monday, we have seen more than 20,000 new cases with increases across all of our age groups."

According to state date, younger age groups have not been immune to the effects.

"Pediatric cases have risen steeply with the most significant increase in our 10-14 age group," Box said. "We also have seen sharp increases in our 5-9 group, and among our older teenagers.

The increasing number of COVID-19 cases have translated to more hospitalizations, as of late.

"Many of our hospitals are once again struggling with staffing and capacity issues," Box said. "Nearly 2,200 Hoosiers are currently hospitalized with COVID - keep in mind that our peak was just under 3,400 patients."

The Delta variant is responsible for approximately 97.6% of recorded cases throughout the state.

Chief Medical Officer Lindsay Weaver illustrated the differences in numbers of cases among vaccinated, and unvaccinated individuals.

"It shows that of nearly 1,300 patients admitted for COVID, only 7 were vaccinated," Weaver said. "These trends are also holding true for Hoosiers admitted to the Intensive Care units."

"If you look at it in terms of people," Weaver added. "Just one Hoosier who was fully vaccinated was admitted to the ICU out of the 205 ICU admissions - the remaining 204 were unvaccinated."

This month, the Pfizer vaccine was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for individuals aged 16 and up; Weaver does not expect the vaccine to be approved for children under the age of 12 "for months".