INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The state’s health commissioner says 24 residents of a central Indiana nursing home hit hard by COVID-19 now have died.

Dr. Kristina Box said Friday that 16 of the residents at the Bethany Pointe Health Campus in Anderson had tested positive for the disease caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the other eight had compatible symptoms.

She says “this is a tragedy for the families” and “a tragedy for our entire state.”

Indiana’s total death toll from COVID-19-related illnesses surged by more than 20% Friday as state health officials reported another 55 deaths, pushing the state’s toll during the pandemic to 300 deaths.