Indiana hospitals are seeing their highest-ever overall patient counts amid a month-long COVID-19 surge and the state’s largest hospital system announced Thursday it had enlisted National Guard assistance.

Indiana University Health said it sought the support of the six-person National Guard teams for most of its 16 hospitals across the state because the strain on its “team members, nurses and providers has never been greater.”

The IU Health system isn’t alone as the number of COVID-19 patients in Indiana hospitals has more than doubled in the past month, with about 2,750 such patients as of Wednesday as about 30 people a day are dying from the illness, according to state health department tracking.  That has contributed to the state’s total hospitalized patient count reaching its highest-ever level by topping 11,500 this week, said Brian Tabor, president of the Indiana Hospital Association.

Indiana’s total patient count is some 500 more than a year ago when the state was in the midst of its worst COVID-19 surge and about 3,400 people were hospitalized with the disease.

94.1 WGFA