Lake County Health Department recommending continued use of masks as state mandate ends

With the state’s mask mandate expiring, the Lake County Board of Health announced Tuesday that it is rescinding any prior face mask mandates by the county’s Health Department and instead recommending masks in public.

Gov. Eric Holcomb issued an order letting the state’s mask mandate expire as of April 6 and shifted it to a mask advisory.

Face coverings are still mandatory in all state buildings and facilities, vaccination centers and COVID testing sites, and schools will continue under face mask requirements.

“The Lake County Health Department strongly recommends the continued wearing of face masks in public indoor spaces, including businesses, retail establishments, gyms, exercise facilities, places of worship, event venues, governmental offices as well as outdoors when safe distancing is not possible,” according to a news release from the Lake County Board of Health.

In the release, the health department stated officials will continue to monitor the COVID-19 cases within the county “and initiate all possible actions as necessary to control the community spread of the virus.” The department also encouraged residents to get vaccinated.

As of Tuesday, statewide more than 693,000 positive COVID-19 cases have been reported and 12,694 Hoosiers have died of the virus, according to the Indiana Department of Health dashboard.

Lake County saw 77 new cases of COVID-19 raising the total number of cases to 50,474, according to the data.

With no new deaths reported Tuesday, the county’s total COVID19 deaths remains at 924 people, according to the data.

In Porter County, 45 new COVID-19 cases were reported Tuesday, with a total of 16,861 COVID-19 cases, according to the state dashboard. With no new deaths reported, the county’s total COVID-19 deaths remains at 293 people, according to the data.

After Holcomb announced the mandate expiration, Gary Mayor Jerome Prince stated that the city will continue its face covering mandate for two more weeks.

“During that time, we’ll track the numbers of new COVID-19 positive cases and COVID-19 related deaths, local hospitalization data and the progress we’ve made on vaccinations,” Prince said.

“Those metrics will give me and my team the information we need to make a decision on how and when we will ease the mandate.”

In Porter County, masks will go from mandated to recommended, though still required in county buildings, once the state mask mandate is lifted.

“The Porter County Health Department strongly recommends the continued wearing of face coverings in public indoor spaces, including business and retail establishments, gyms, and exercise facilities, places of worship, event venues and governmental offices,” Dr. Maria Stamp, the county’s health officer said.

Last week, the Lake County Board of Commissioners extended the county’s mask mandate for county-owned buildings for 30 days and will review the mask order again by April 30, according to the order.