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INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR/TEGNA/AP) — Wednesday’s latest updates on the coronavirus pandemic.
Governor Holcomb COVID-19 response update
Governor Eric Holcomb and state leaders are providing an update on the COVID-19 response.
Late next week, a cleaning service will be made available for medical workers, dentists and others essential workers using N95 masks. The service will allow each N95 mask to be cleaned up to 20 times, which will greatly help with the amount of PPE available.
ISDh announced increased contact tracing to track people who came in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. When contacts are identified, they will need to quarantine for 14 days.
The contact tracing along with the increased testing announced on Tuesday are critical steps in Indiana reopening and moving away from the stay-at-home order.
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Hamilton County Health Department releases long-term care data
The Hamilton County Health Department says has decided to start releasing the number of deaths at long-term care facilities effective Wednesday. It will issue a new report every Monday.
LTC Deaths as of April 27, 2020
- Carmel Health & Living (10)
- Hamilton Trace (7)
- The Stratford (6)
- Brookdale Carmel (3)
- Heritage Woods (1)
- The Hearth at Windermere (5)
- Grand Brook Memory Care (2)
- Harbour Manor (3)
- Maple Park (1)
State officials say they do not plan to release the names of long-term care facilities with either cases or deaths. It is up to the facility to communicate directly to residents and their representatives.
New guidelines issued to all long-term care facilities order them to communicate the number of cases and deaths on a daily basis, along with the measures the facility is taking to keep people safe.
The state is releasing aggregate numbers of cases and deaths each Monday. (see chart below) As of last Friday, the 260 deaths in 85 different long-term care facilities accounted for 32 percent of the state’s deaths related to COVID-19.
ISDH updated COVID-19 numbers
There are 605 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state, according to Wednesday’s ISDH report, and 63 more deaths. Those deaths happened from April 7 to April 28. That brings the total of confirmed cases to 17,182 while more than 900 people have died from the virus in Indiana.
According to the updated report, a total of 964 Hoosiers have been confirmed to have died of COVID-19, an increase of 63 over the previous 24 hours. Another 101 probable deaths have been reported, taking the total deaths from COVID-19 in the state to more than 1,000, if you count “probably deaths.” Probable deaths are those for which a physician listed COVID-19 as a contributing cause based on X-rays, scans and other clinical symptoms but for which no positive test is on record.
Marion County had the most new cases, at 218.
Other counties with more than 10 new cases were:
- Allen (26)
- Cass (27)
- Dearborn (13)
- Elkhart (14)
- Hamilton (19)
- Hendricks (13)
- Johnson (13)
- LaPorte (10)
- Lake (71)
- Noble (10)
- St. Joseph (18)
- Wabash (10)
More than 91,000 people have been tested in the state for COVID-19. Approximately 18 percent of Hoosiers tested for the virus have tested positive.
Company says drug proved effective against COVID-19
A biotech company said its experimental drug has proved effective against the new coronavirus in a major U.S. government study that put it to a strict test.
Gilead Sciences’s remdesivir would be the first treatment to pass such a test against the virus, which has killed more than 218,000 people since it emerged late last year. Having a treatment could have a profound effect on the global pandemic, especially because health officials say any vaccine is likely a year or more away.
The study, run by the National Institutes of Health, tested remdesivir versus usual care in about 800 hospitalized coronavirus patients around the world. The main result is how long it takes patients to recover.
Gilead gave no details on results Wednesday, but said an announcement is expected soon. NIH officials did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Latest US, world numbers
There have been more than 1,012,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States as of 4 a.m. ET Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. death toll is more than 58,000 while nearly 116,000 have recovered. Nearly 5.8 million tests for COVID-19 have been performed in the U.S.
Worldwide, there have been more than 3.1 million cases with 217,000 deaths and 929,000 recoveries.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.
South Korea experts downplay possible reinfections
South Korean infectious disease experts have downplayed concerns that patients could get reinfected with the new coronavirus after fully recovering.
While hundreds in South Korea have tested positive again after their release from hospitals, Oh Myoung-don, who heads the country’s central clinical committee on new infectious diseases, told a news conference on Wednesday there was a “high possibility” that such test results were flawed.
He said South Korea’s standard real-time PCR tests, designed to amplify the genetic materials of the virus so that even tiny quantities are detected, doesn’t reliably distinguish between remains of dead virus and infectious particles. He said lab tests on animals suggest that COVID-19 patients would maintain immunity for at least a year after their infections.
He also said it was unlikely that the virus could be reactivated after remaining dormant when it doesn’t seem to be a type that causes chronic illnesses.
President Trump says US closer to testing international air travelers
President Donald Trump said his administration is considering requiring travelers on certain incoming international flights to undergo temperature and virus checks to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
“We’re looking at doing it on the international flights coming out of areas that are heavily infected,” Trump said Tuesday at the White House. “We will be looking into that in the very near future.”
Trump said it has not been determined yet whether the federal government or the airlines would conduct the testing. “Maybe it’s a combination of both,” he said.
Houston lab mass-processes FDA-approved antibody test
A Houston medical diagnostic lab is now capable of testing thousands of blood samples for coronavirus antibodies.
SynerGene Laboratories, a facility owned by Principle Health Systems, is offering a COVID-19 test developed by pharmaceuticals giant, Abbott Laboratories. It tests for antibodies for the novel coronavirus and can detect whether a person has been exposed.
What differentiates the test from other antibody screenings is that the Abbott Labs version is approved by the Food and Drug Administration, Principle Health Systems CEO James Dieter said Tuesday.
“There are a lot of tests on the market right now that are not, but Abbott did go through the painstaking process of getting FDA approval,” Dieter said.
Dozens of blood tests are being marketed in the United States that are not entirely accurate or comparable to one another, according to a report released by researchers at Johns Hopkins University.
Even a small rate of false positives can substantially distort the understanding of how many people have been infected. It’s even possible false positives could outnumber real positives.
