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Travel advisory

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* July 1, 2020…

The first day of July continued Indiana’s statewide trend of lower numbers, as the state added 358 cases total and eight deaths.

Indiana’s 7-day positivity rate was 4.9 percent at the time.

* Also on July 1…

Governor Holcomb gave a briefing Wednesday afternoon. He announced that instead of moving forward to stage 5, the state will move to stage 4.5 from July 4-17.

Through at least July 17, the following restrictions will continue:

• Social gatherings following the CDC’s social distancing guidelines will be limited to up to 250 people. This limit applies to wedding receptions, parties, and other events where people are in close physical contact for extended periods of time, particularly indoors.
• Dining room food service may continue operations at up to 75 percent capacity as long as social distancing is observed. Bar seating in restaurants may continue operations at 50 percent capacity. Bars and nightclubs may continue operations open at 50 percent capacity as long as they adhere to social distancing guidelines.
• Cultural, entertainment and tourism sites may continue operations open at 50 percent capacity.
• Movie theaters, bowling alleys and similar facilities may continue operations open at 50 percent capacity.
• Amusement parks, water parks and similar facilities may continue operations open at 50 percent capacity. Reservations are encouraged to limit the number of customers at any one time.
• Raceways may continue operations open at 50 percent grandstand capacity.

Beginning July 4, fairs, festivals and other similar outdoor events may open. Pari-mutuel horse racing and county and state fair racing may begin with 50 percent spectator capacity. Youth overnight camps may open.

On July 4th, when the new phase was entered, Indiana’s case numbers had shot up 61 percent, to 576, and its 7-day positivity rate had risen to 6 percent.

* Today, Indiana reported 700 new cases. Its latest reported average positivity rate was 8.4 percent.

So, even though Indiana’s daily case numbers have risen 21.5 percent in 11 days and its average positivity rate has jumped by 40 percent, the governor next door decided today to just continue with stage 4.5…

Gov. Eric Holcomb is keeping the reopening of Indiana’s economy on pause for at least two more weeks due to the growing number of COVID-19 infections in the Hoosier State.

The Republican chief executive said Wednesday he soon will sign an executive order keeping the state at stage 4.5 of his five-stage Back on Track reopening plan through the end of July.

* One of Illinois’ new triggers for regional mitigation is “three consecutive days averaging ≥ 8% positivity rate.” Not including today (numbers haven’t been posted yet that I can find), Indiana’s last three days averaged 7.9 percent, which is right at what would be the edge here.

There’s also a real problem with testing there…

Dr. Kristina Box, the commissioner of the Indiana Department of Health, said one issue is a lack of supplies. The state had partnered with Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical maker Eli Lilly & Co. and the Indiana Hospital Association to make a $66 million order for reagents to perform testing at Indiana labs. The state still awaits that order to be filled, and the federal government has reduced the amount of supplies it’s providing.

She noted wait times for coronavirus test results have grown longer, and should be no more than three to five days. The current average is up to seven days for Optum sites. She says Indiana is trying to keep the lab work for the testing in the state to assure quicker results. She says the lack of supplies is due to “external factors beyond our control.”

* And here’s their plan for the future…

[State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box] said if Indiana climbs to a 10-15% positivity rate and stays there consistently, the state will re-evaluate what might need to be done and make strong recommendations.

That’s taking an awfully big chance. Texas’ governor said last month that a 10 percent positivity rate was a “warning flag.” You’ve seen what has happened since then. Its positivity rate is now above 17 percent and the state reported more than 10,000 new cases yesterday.

You might wanna steer clear of Indiana for a while.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jul 15, 20 @ 2:57 pm

Comments

We have had to run to medical in Iowa . But We go and head right home. But they are up to 8 .

Chicago have them an advisory. It Missouri that really worried me. I see masks in Iowa . None in MO.We just drive into MO to observer with the Windows up.Also something is spiking Quincy.

Comment by Not a Billionaire Wednesday, Jul 15, 20 @ 3:08 pm
So much for “Illinois Exodus” to Indiana and any early reopen state. Those who supported reopening early got it disastrously wrong.

Comment by Grandson of Man Wednesday, Jul 15, 20 @ 3:08 pm
===You might wanna steer clear of Indiana for a while.===

I generally follow that advice, especially since my daughter said ‘no thanks’ to Purdue last year. But I do love the Indiana Beach Nat’l Lakeshore and Billie Creek Village. I am conflicted but, I will wait until the fall at the earliest.

Comment by Proud Sucker Wednesday, Jul 15, 20 @ 3:10 pm
I get get it that steering the populace to do these simple mitigating steps is still like herding cats. The administration has been far more patient than I think i could be, in terms of “dropping the hammer” on those that are making things worse, like bars and restaurants that are not in compliance or actively defying compliance. The time for polite letters, tickets and fines by mail has passed. Those that would comply, have. The outliers were never going to.

Time to actually yank licenses and enforce shutdowns on specific violators until the rest get the message that there are actually consequences.

Comment by Give Us Barabbas Wednesday, Jul 15, 20 @ 3:14 pm
===You might wanna steer clear of Indiana for a while.===

As someone who lived in Indiana for a few years, before moving to IL, I’ve been avoiding Indiana for a while already.

Outside of the college towns, and even in some of those, Indiana might as well be Alabama in its policies.

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Wednesday, Jul 15, 20 @ 3:19 pm
“Those who supported reopening early got it disastrously wrong.”

Well, we’re going to find out whether doing it later avoids the problems. Our number of positive cases today was 20% higher than last Wednesday. Plenty of indications that we’re getting a spike here as well. What we don’t know is whether we’ll reach a lower plateau than other states or not.

We opened up later and everyone understood that would mean we’d have fewer cases than those who open up earlier. The question about the impact will have to wait on the calendar.

My question is whether we’ve learned anything from the early openers and all indications are that we haven’t. It seems like there’s pretty strong indications that bars are a problem. They’re closed right now in Texas and open in Illinois.

Comment by Moving On Up Wednesday, Jul 15, 20 @ 3:27 pm
== The question about the impact will have to wait on the calendar.==

This is a good point, we can’t really crow about how our positivity rate is lower than other states just yet. Since moving into Phase 4, our restrictions aren’t very different. We may be in the same position in a month or two, only with a slower rate of increase. Moving backwards to Phase 3 or even Phase 2 would be very unpopular, but it might prove to be necessary.

Comment by Lester Holt’s Mustache Wednesday, Jul 15, 20 @ 3:47 pm
== You might wanna steer clear of Indiana for a while.==

Or at least don’t come back for awhile lol

Comment by Bob Loblaw Wednesday, Jul 15, 20 @ 3:52 pm
The R-naught in Indiana right now is 1.24, one of the highest in the nation.

Wisconsin is not far behind.

Comment by Thomas Paine Wednesday, Jul 15, 20 @ 3:52 pm
* It seems like there’s pretty strong indications that bars are a problem. *

Not necessarily. A good many bars are a low volume business, particularly sun through Thursday. They are being singled out because they can be, the “less desirable” business, unless of course you are an owner or an employee.

Comment by Gene Gene Wednesday, Jul 15, 20 @ 3:54 pm
And the exact same thing will happen here. Open up, or shut down. This virus will not be defeated, until it’s ran it’s course, or there is a vaccine….

Comment by Lane Change Wednesday, Jul 15, 20 @ 3:59 pm
=You might wanna steer clear of Indiana for a while.=

But Rich…their taxes…

Like a few others have mentioned, I avoid Indiana as a general practice.

I see more and more are stepping up on mask wearing, it is such a simple thing for most people I just don’t get it. Wear a mask.

I never thought I would say this but let’s be South Korea.

Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Jul 15, 20 @ 4:13 pm
===You might wanna steer clear of Indiana for a while.===

Other than my cabin in the woods, I don’t go anywhere for pleasure. The furthest from home has been to Schaumburg three times to go to the office to change the computer password and pick up files I forget in March.

Unlesd there is a funeral, the chance of me going out of state before a vaccine is available is slim to none.

I am hunkered down in my town.

Comment by Huh? Wednesday, Jul 15, 20 @ 6:41 pm
luckily our leaders did a way better job from the beginning so Illinois is not a Texas-Florida_ Arizona-Georgia in a runaway mode with little hope in slowing the spread and way more people will die because of it. The hospitals will have to send people home to die in those states and others

Comment by truthteller Thursday, Jul 16, 20 @ 8:35 am
Indiana and Illinois present 2 different views of state government, one more libertarian and the other with much stricter top down control. This is the beauty of the US, you can find a state to live in that matches your views. My Indiana friends tell me that, if you are afraid of Covid, don’t go out or go out and wear a mask, their view seems reasonable to me.

Comment by Davis Junction Thursday, Jul 16, 20 @ 8:58 am