Indiana eclipses 1.6 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, but cases appear to be slowing

Indiana surpassed 1.6 million confirmed COVID-19 cases Friday, just over a week from its most recent milestone.

Indiana added 17,084 new cases to its total, pushing the state beyond 1.6 million cases. But that includes 4,705 cases that were delayed over the course of the week.

But cases appear to be falling or at least plateauing across almost the entire state. Parke, Lake, Cass and La Porte counties all saw cases drop by more than 20 percent in their county. Marion and Hendricks counties were close behind. But two counties – Scott and Franklin – saw their cases grow by more than 50 percent.

READ MORE: What the latest COVID-19 data means for you

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Compared just to last week, cases have dropped by nearly 20 percent statewide.

Another positive sign: Indiana’s COVID-19 hospital census has dropped below 3,000 for the first time in more than a month.

In November, the state averaged 2,707.2 new cases per day. But in December, when the strain was making its way through the U.S., that grew to 5,193.9. For January so far, the state is averaging 12,451.6 cases per day.

The Indiana Department of Health reports the omicron variant accounts for nearly 88 percent of sampled tests in the state.

Indiana reported more than 80,000 new cases in the last week. Since Sept. 1, the state has reported 55,624 reinfections statewide.

Contact Lauren at lchapman@wfyi.org or follow her on Twitter at @laurenechapman_.