581 Fully Vaccinated Indiana Residents Died Of COVID-19; 56,000 Breakthrough Cases Recorded

An increasing number of fully vaccinated residents in Indiana have died of COVID-19 over the past week, according to state data.

In the week starting Oct. 21 and ending on Oct. 28, at least 50 fully vaccinated individuals in Indiana have died of COVID-19, raising the state’s total number of breakthrough deaths to 581.

Of the total number of deaths, 89% occurred in people aged 65 and older, with the average age of breakthrough deaths occurring in individuals aged 78. The number represents 0.017% of the state’s fully vaccinated individuals, according to data from the Indiana Department of Health.

During the same period, 3,750 fully vaccinated individuals also tested positive for COVID-19. The state has now reported 56,234 breakthrough coronavirus infections since the beginning of the pandemic. The figures represent 1.672% of the state’s fully vaccinated population.

Breakthrough hospitalizations have also increased over the past week, with health officials reporting 87 new admissions. At least 1,184 individuals are now hospitalized with COVID-19, representing 0.035% of inoculated individuals.

Overall, health officials have reported 1,440 new COVID-19 cases among the unvaccinated and vaccinated between Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. The latest numbers put the state’s total number of confirmed coronavirus cases since March 6, 2020 to 1,023,980, the agency’s COVID-19 dashboard show.

The number of coronavirus cases has also steadily increased among students, with the state reporting 1,466 infections from Aug. 15 to Oct. 29 among students alone.

Of the total number of student cases for the 2021-2022 school year, 43% occurred in children aged 10 to 14 and 28.7% were recorded in those aged 15 to 19. In younger children, 26.9% of infections occurred in those aged 5 to 9, while 1.1% involved children 0 to 4.

A majority of the student infections -- 50.4% -- are in females, while 49.6% involved male individuals, the health department’s school dashboard show.

As of Thursday, Indiana had a rolling seven-day positivity rate of 7.3% with a 15% positivity rate for unique individuals. The highly contagious Delta variant was seen in 99.6% of all COVID-19 samples tested in October.