By LaMonte Richardson Jr.
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS—As the number of new cases and deaths from COVID-19 continues to reach record-high levels, Indiana’s hospital workers are feeling the strain and the economy is struggling to recover.

On Tuesday, the Indiana State Department of Health reported that 4,879 additional Hoosiers have been diagnosed with COVID-19, making the total number of Hoosiers known to have had COVID-19 219,338. A total of 4,481 Hoosiers have died from COVID-19, an increase of 63 from the previous day.

Indiana reached a record-breaking 2,336 Hoosiers hospitalized by COVID-19 as of Sunday. This comes after hospitalizations were as low as 754 at the end of September and 595 in late July. The state also saw a 9.9% seven-day positivity rate in all tests and a 19.2% positivity rate in unique individuals.

The ever-climbing number of people hospitalized with the highly contagious novel coronavirus is having an impact on hospitals across the state, prompting Brian Tabor, president of the Indiana Hospital Association, to say that all Hoosiers should be alarmed by the trends.

Tabor issued a statement Tuesday saying hospitalizations have increased 143% since Oct. 1 and many hospitals are reporting shortages among nurses, doctors and other front-line workers who have been fighting the pandemic since spring.

“Please give these courageous health care heroes some much-needed relief by wearing a face covering, practicing social distancing, washing your hands, and staying home when you are sick,” Tabor said. “We need everyone to take these steps to relieve the enormous strain on the system at this critical time.”

Meanwhile, the state’s revenues have been hit by the pandemic. The Indiana State Budget Agency released the October report of revenue collections showed a drop of more than $425 million compared to September and $803 million compared to July.

But year-over-year revenue figures are distorted by the pandemic because some taxes that should have been paid by April 15 were deferred to July 15. That means revenue that should have been counted in the last fiscal year aren’t showing up until the current one.

General revenue came in at about $1.2 billion, the budget agency reported. Overall, 16 months into the current two-year budget cycle—July 2019 through October—the general fund revenues are $515.2 million below estimates based on the December 2019 forecast.

The major sources of Indiana’s revenue come from sales and use taxes, individual income tax collections, corporate taxes, riverboat, and racino wagering among others racino wagering, All wagering has been performing well below monthly estimates as COVID-19 has limited casino attendance. Riverboat performing 27.2% below estimates and racino wagering performing at 17.8% below estimates since July.

FOOTNOTE:  LaMonte Richardson Jr. is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.