Oh hey, one of these again. I’m mostly doing this as a timestamp of sorts. Indiana identified its first case of the Omicron variant about a week and a half ago. Given the 2–3 day doubling interval seen elsewhere, Indiana could potentially see daily case records by mid-January. Even if Omicron proves to be less virulent, the increased transmissibility may result in steady or increased hospitalizations and deaths. So that’s what the future might hold. Where does the present stand?

Current state

Cases have peaked after climbing since around Halloween. My “weekly cumulative cases change” (the change in the sum of the daily positive cases for the last seven days compared to the sum for the seven days prior) has been in the single negative digits for the last nine days. It was as high as 95% earlier this month. The rate of decrease is slowing a bit in the last few days, though.

Hospitalizations have peaked as well. We spent five consecutive days above 3,000. While we’re below that number again, we’re still at a higher hospitalization rate than the peak of the Delta variant wave in late summer. Late last week, we high a pandemic low for percentage of available ICU bed capacity statewide. As I told my friend the other day, I’m not personally concerned about COVID, I’m concerned about driving.

It’s hard to tell if deaths are peaking or not. The numbers tend to get revised upward for longer and longer periods these days. I do know that (as of this writing), 53 people died a week ago. That’s the highest single-day death toll since early February. While the current cumulative weekly death difference shows a decline starting yesterday, I think the 15–20% numbers a few days back are probably closer to reality. Considering that hospitalization just peaked on Thursday, we’re probably a few days out from the peak in deaths.

Coming up

The Institute for Health Measurement and Evaluation hasn’t done an Indiana model run since 17 November. They’re currently trying to incorporate Omicron into the model. Looking at last winter, we’re at or slightly ahead of this time a year ago. Depending on what measure you look at, the peak last year was in roughly mid-December. With vaccines available, we should see hospitalization and death rates far below that miserable winter. On the other hand, indoor masking is nearly non-existent and the Omicron variant presents a rather significant unknown.

Indiana is the worst state for COVID safety, with low vaccination and high hospitalization. This is a failure of leadership, especially considering that most deaths since July 1 would have been prevented with better vaccination rates. Nearly 25% of Indiana’s total COVID-19 fatalities could have been avoided had right-wing politicians and media not made COVID-19 into a culture war.

As usual, I’ll keep my dashboard updated most days that the Department of Health provides data.