State count is up to 645

The case count continues to rise.

Indiana State Department of Health this morning reported that there are now 645 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state. Seventeen have died from the disease.

There are still no confirmed cases in Jay County.

Indiana’s total, as of midnight Wednesday, was up by 168 — or 35 percent — from the previous day.

Ohio’s case total went up by 140 to 704 as of its reporting time Wednesday afternoon. The state has had 10 deaths.

Adjacent Mercer, Adams, Wells and Delaware counties all have had confirmed cases of COVID-19. Blackford and Randolph counties, like Jay, have not had any so far.

Health officials continue to indicate that the actual numbers are likely much higher because testing for COVID-19 is still limited.

Stay-at-home orders are in place in both Indiana and Ohio, until April 6 and April 7, respectively, in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Indiana Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box said she’s seen progress in terms of increasing intensive care unit capacity and availability of ventilators across the state.

“Because everybody is stepping up to the plate and trying to pretty much double their ICU capacity, I’m seeing those numbers increase as we go along,” Box said.

Box said the state health department received several truckloads of medical worker protection items such as masks, face shields and gowns this week and was distributing it to hospitals and county health officials.

Indiana Election Division on Wednesday approved new procedures for the state after Holcomb last week announced the postponement of the primary election that was scheduled for May 5. Essentially, the schedule will be moved back one month.

Early voting is now set to begin May 5, with the primary election to be held June 2. The updated procedures now allow anyone to vote by mail. A ballot can be requested at indianavoters.com.

Those changes may mean it will take more time to count ballots, with the state’s deadlines for election results to be finalized set at 3 p.m. June 12.

The election commission is scheduled to meet again April 22 to discuss “moving to a vote-by-mail election if necessitated by the public health crisis.”

“As we take precautions to protect Hoosiers from the threat of COVID-19, it is vitally important to protect citizens’ right to vote,” Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson said in a press release. “I am pleased that our bipartisan recommendations have been adopted, and I thank the Indiana Election Commission for their expeditious work. With these changes, I am confident our primary will move forward with minimal disruption.”

Ohio’s primary, which was originally scheduled for April 7, has also been moved to June 2.

Indiana had nearly 54,000 unemployment benefit filings last week, a 23-fold increase from the week before — as factories, restaurants, hotels and other businesses began to close. More than 10,000 Indianapolis residents submitted unemployment claims last week, according to Indiana Department of Workforce Development. At least 11 other counties had more than 1,000 people submit claims.

Holcomb has encouraged anyone losing their job to quickly apply at unemployment.in.gov for unemployment benefits.