Thread by @ISMAphysicians

.@GovHolcomb about to start his daily #coronavirus briefing. He's been joined once a week the last few weeks by bipartisan pairs of mayors: today, it's Jeffersonville's Mike Moore (R) and Gary's Jerome Prince (D).

.@StateHealthIN Commissioner Kris Box says ISDH has partnered w/ Indiana Minority Health Coalition to get info to minorities on best practices for dealing with #coronavirus. African-Americans have had disproportionately high rates of infection and death, in IN and nationally.

Box slideshow indicates worst single-day death toll is now 39, on April 14. Online dashboard hasn't quite caught up to that.

Jeffersonville Mayor Mike Moore: "I get the sense we've weathered the worst of this. Our hard work is paying off." Clark County has had 181 #coronavirus cases and 11 deaths.

Box to Moore: "I didn't know you were going to be on the call today, or I would have brought some Clark County-specific information." Moore: "That's all right, you usually have bad news."

Gary Mayor Jerome Prince: Gary's health commissioner Roland Walker has recovered after contracting #coronavirus. Walker's parents remain ill.

Gary and East Chicago are the only city health departments in Indiana. The others are all county departments, including a separate Lake County health department.

Holcomb notes #coronavirus death toll now exceeds US deaths in the Korean War.

Holcomb: the real question about reopening businesses isn't so much when, but how. He says the numbers will make clear when that should be -- "it'll be sometime in May" -- but says businesses need to be thinking now about how they'll change operations when they do reopen.

Holcomb elaborating on changes that might need to be made: companies w/cafeterias might encourage brown-bagging for a while to avoid people congregating. Others need to look at how often they clean, physical distancing, how many allowed in, production flow, physical barriers.

Also included: protocol for what to do if an employee tests positive after reopening.

The advantage of #localjournalism: question about Cass County, which has seen 24% increases each of the last two days. Box says there's a cluster of cases at a factory there. The county now has 107 cases, 1 death.

Box: none of the new Cass County patients has required hospitalization. Holcomb says he talked with the company's CEO today, and they're making changes in the workspace to reduce infection risk.

Cass County has one #coronavirus case for every 352 people. For comparison: Marion County, biggest county in the state, naturally has the most cases as well; 1 for every 231. Decatur County contagion is slowing, but it's had one of worst rates in US: one for every 155.

Holcomb notes (as he has before) that having Chicago right across the border from Lake County raises possibility that lockdown orders might remain in place in NW Indiana longer than other parts of state.

National Guard will pre-position 50 beds in Gary area by end of week, ready to be deployed if there's patient surge and more beds are needed.

Box updates numbers on #coronavirus in #longtermcare facilities: 162 deaths in 74 facilities. That's 26% of statewide death toll.

Indiana has 800 longterm care facilities. 199 of them have had #coronavirus cases, a total of 1,568 patients.

233 Indiana prison inmates have tested positive in 10 facilities. 1 death has been reported, at Westville.

Dept of Correction chief medical officer Kristen Dauss says she's talked with Ohio, which conducted mass testing of #prison inmates (and found 3/4 of them tested positive). She says she's seeking info on logistics on how Ohio was able to do it, as IN looks at how to follow suit.

Holcomb: "We're not going to try to get around the numbers. We're not going to do anything prematurely. This is going to be a safety-first approach."

Box: early spread in IN was clearly at large gatherings like weddings, funerals, conferences. Now more commonly longterm care facilities. Some on mass transit. There have been some cases at grocery stores. Holcomb adds that's why contact tracing will become more & more impt.