Holcomb extends mask mandate again
Governor adds a month to order as Lake, St. Joe counties top state in new virus cases
Indiana’s statewide mask order will remain in place, but tougher restrictions on businesses and crowd sizes aren’t being reinstated, despite recent sharp increases in COVID-19 hospitalizations and rates of new infections in the state, Gov. Eric Holcomb said Wednesday.
Holcomb, a Republican, said some people were showing disregard for the safety of others, putting the ability of schools to remain open and the health of those most at risk of severe illness from the virus in jeopardy.
“Those inactions are costing, just to be blunt, health care costs, lost wages, business failures. Don’t kid yourself, we’re all paying this bill,” Holcomb said. He went on to add, “Throwing caution to the wind, ultimately ends up costing us all. It is the literal definition of whistling past the graveyard, pretending this isn’t around us.”
Holcomb decided three weeks ago to lift nearly all of Indiana’s restrictions while extending the mask mandate, which was scheduled to expire Saturday. His new order will extend it for a month.
For the second time this week, Lake County has topped the state in new COVID-19 cases. In reporting Wednesday, the State Department of Health showed 103 new cases, the same as St. Joseph County. Marion County, with the most cases in the state with more than 23,000, was next at 101 new cases.
On Monday, Lake County led the state with 141 new cases. The new county total, the second highest in the state, is 12,189 with one new death, bringing that total to 340.
Porter County Health Department’s positive case total rose to 2,665 Wednesday with 49 deaths, according to the county’s dashboard.
The state’s health commissioner, Dr. Kristina Box, also announced that she, an adult daughter and young grandson tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday. Box said she didn’t yet have any symptoms, while her daughter and grandson have mild symptoms.
Holcomb wore a face mask during the online briefing from his Statehouse office for the first time, saying he would be undergoing a coronavirus test later Wednesday and planned to quarantine at the governor’s office until he has the results.
Democratic governor candidate Woody Myers, a former state health commissioner who is challenging Holcomb in November’s election, has said tougher restrictions needed to be reinstated. He has also repeatedly called for a more strict mask mandate, as the one Holcomb has issued includes no penalties for violators.
Indiana House Democratic Leader Phil GiaQuinta, D-Fort Wayne, called on Holcomb to do more, even if it is unpopular.
“Though I am relieved that Governor Holcomb made the right decision by extending the mask mandate, this alone will not be enough to fight against the rising hospitalization and positivity rates and fast approaching winter flu season,” GiaQuinta said. “It’s simply irresponsible to continue maintaining the status quo when numbers are steadily increasing statewide.
“I know it may not be the best political move for Governor Holcomb right now, but we may need to move a stage back to keep hospitals from becoming overwhelmed in the coming weeks,” he said. “We will not see change without changing our own behavior, and that starts with a bolder plan from Governor Holcomb.”
The state health department on Wednesday more than doubled the number of counties designated as higher-risk locations for coronavirus spread. Twenty-two of Indiana’s 92 counties were placed in orange or red levels under the agency’s weekly tracking map update, while nine counties were at those levels last week.
The highest-risk counties are scattered across the state, with clusters in northeastern Indiana, some rural counties west of Lafayette and those around Evansville in the southwestern corner.
Indiana’s remaining 70 counties received yellow or blue ratings based on the number of new cases per 100,000 residents and the percentage of tests confirming COVID-19 infections.
The 1,357 COVID-19 hospitalizations as of Tuesday put Indiana at its highest level since mid-May, the Health Department reported. Such hospitalizations have grown by twothirds since Sept. 22 — the day before Holcomb announced lifted most statewide restrictions.
State officials added 14 more coronavirus deaths on Wednesday to raise the state’s death toll to 3,836, including confirmed and presumed coronavirus cases. That’s an increase of 109 deaths in the past week.
The Health Department’s daily update showed Indiana’s seven-day rolling average of newly confirmed COVID-19 infections was nearly 1,600 as of Tuesday, an increase of 85% increase from three weeks earlier.
“We have seen the positive effects on Lake County’s health when being diligent in mask wearing, but it does take all of us participating to see the positive effects again,” Purdue University Northwest nursing professor Jodi Allen said. “I am hopeful that the mask mandate will improve our county’s influenza numbers at the start of the flu season this year, which will be immensely helpful to our area’s health care system as we continue to deal with COVID cases.”
Masks are a proven method to stem transmission, other experts agreed.
“I think it’s a great time to see our political leaders continue to emphasize mask wearing in all public spheres,” said Dr. Sadiya Khan, an epidemiologist with Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
“I think the bigger concern is that we’re not going back to the beginning of the pandemic,” Khan said, “when lockdowns were instituted, in part, because it was spreading so quickly and that was the only solution at the time.”
“I don’t think there’s an end in sight as we move into flu season. It’s so understandable to have this pandemic fatigue and this isolation fatigue and we all feel it,” Khan said. “Unfortunately, without maintaining vigilance of physical distancing, masking, handwashing, we are not going to make the progress we need before a vaccine. We have to take care of each other.”