Staying home, safe
Some young NWI residents watch their peers continue as normal during the pandemic
Lisa Tanis said when COVID-19 cases began picking up in Northwest Indiana, her doctor told her, then pregnant, that she needed to be cautious. So she stayed home — and continued staying home.
“We had groceries delivered, didn’t see our friends, and barely even saw our parents,” Tanis, 26, of Dyer, said. “When we did see our parents, it was always outside at a distance.”
Since Tanis’ had her son, Nolan, on July 22 and the state enacted a mask mandate, she said her and her husband, Aaron, 26, have met up with few family members and friends to let them meet him, though they’ve continued limiting the places they go to.
“The only thing I have regularly done is go for walks, which kept me sane,” Tanis, 26, said. “I haven’t eaten at a restaurant except for takeout since February and I’ve only been to the grocery store a handful of times.”
Even though some, like Tanis, are staying home, cases in the area continue.
As of Aug. 27, the number of positive cases in Lake and Porter counties is 10,603 and the number of deaths is 335, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
The 7-day positivity rate in Lake County is 6.2%, while Porter County is at 5.5%.
The World Health Organization warned earlier this month that young people are becoming the primary source in spreading the novel coronavirus in many counties, and because symptoms are often mild in younger people, many are unaware they’re infected, said Dr. Takeshi Kasai, the WHO’s Western Pacific regional director, at a news briefing.
“People in their 20s, 30s and 40s are increasingly driving its spread,” Kasai said at the briefing Aug. 18. “Many are unaware they’re infected — with very mild symptoms or none at all. This can result in them unknowingly passing on the virus to others.”
State demographic figures bear that out.
In its Aug. 27 report, the State Department of Health reported the greatest percentage of positive COVID-19 cases comes from those 20-29. Statewide, 19.3%, of cases fall in that demographic. In Lake County, the rate is 18.2%, while Porter County checks in higher than the state average at 19.7%.
As college students return to classes across the country, many have seen positive cases and quarantines, and some — such as the University of Notre Dame and Michigan State University — have even opted to move classes online. Notre Dame announced Friday that inperson classes would resume Wednesday.
Recently, Indiana University Bloomington ordered around 20% of its Greek houses to quarantine after members of eight houses — six fraternities and two sororities — received positive COVID-19 tests, according to the Indiana Daily Student.
Additionally, two other houses off the Bloomington campus have been ordered to quarantine and at Purdue University in West Lafayette, 10 members of a fraternity tested positive and were moved to campus housing set aside for isolation while 55 other members of the off campus house were in quarantine, according to the Associated Press.
While students begin to quarantine and WHO says young people are emerging as the main spreaders of the virus, Ronny Lee, 23, of Schererville, said aside from classes at Indiana University Northwest and working at White Rhino, he mostly stays home — although every so often he’ll go out with friends to places like the Engine Room, Sheffield’s or Social 219 for a drink.
“I try to go on a night when it’s not as busy as a Friday or Saturday night, and I make sure I’m socially distanced from people, wearing a mask, carrying hand sanitizer with me,” Lee said. “I’ve been trying to do the whole nine yards, as far as going out into public and everything.” While out with friends or working at White Rhino, Lee said he sees people in their 20s doing the same thing he is, though the levels of caution vary. Some wear masks and social distance, he said, but many don’t.
“From what I notice, a lot of 20-year-olds aren’t doing it, and that’s where the problem is,” Lee said. “They’re going out to all these bars where it’s wall to wall people and it’s impossible to social distance — it’s almost like the pandemic isn’t really happening.”
Hannah Reed is a freelance reporter for the PostTribune.