A total of 2,022 Hoosiers have died from COVID-19, one month after Indiana began reopening businesses. State officials say their analysis of the data still supports reopening.
The state reached another grim milestone – more than 2,000 confirmed dead – just more than a month after reaching 1,000. State Health Commissioner Kris Box says it’s hard to describe the number.
"If you had asked me 10 weeks or 12 weeks ago that we’d be sitting here with this many Hoosiers who have lost their lives from this particular disease, I think I would have had trouble understanding that. It’s been the hardest part of this job, quite honestly," Box says.
But, she says, with the state’s ability to care for COVID-19 patients holding steady and no vaccine or treatment on the horizon, officials had to decide how to reopen. Gov. Eric Holcomb agrees.
"Every single one of those deaths causes us to think, are we doing every single thing that we can do that is in our control to minimize those going forward?" Holcomb says.
The death toll is likely higher than the confirmed number: There are an additional 175 probable deaths – where no test was administered, but health care professionals believe the person had the virus. That would boost Indiana’s confirmed or presumed deaths to 2,197 since the first one was recorded on March 15.
Contact Lauren at lchapman@wfyi.org or follow her on Twitter at @laurenechapman_.