Thread by @ISMAphysicians

FSSA Secretary @confectionsmd: Masks required on school bus, and at school except when eating or if it has to be taken off for instructional reasons.

Sullivan: entire schools don't have to close if there's a positive case. 2 cases in one class would close that classroom. She says it's a similar protocol to what closes daycare centers. (Only 16 of 4,000 child care centers in IN have had to close in pandemic.)

Weaver: if there's a positive case in school, close contacts will be identified, and isolated for 2 weeks to see if symptoms develop. Schools are urged to group students in "pods" and assign seats to simplify contact tracing.

Indiana is seventh state this week, and third *today* (Minnesota and Ohio), to announce #MaskUp requirement.

Weaver: we've increased #coronavirus testing, but we're starting to run into the same national supply chain issues that held up testing in March and April.

State will release long-awaited breakdown of #coronavirus cases and deaths in #LongTermCare by individual facility at the end of the day. 83% of nursing homes have sent their data.

So far, 1,390 deaths in longterm care, 53% of state total and 128 more than what @StateHealthIN dashboard shows.

12 #LongTermCare staffers have also died of #coronavirus. Those deaths will not be included in individual nursing-home breakdowns to protect privacy, since the number is so low.

New searchable, publicly accessible dashboard for longterm care cases should go live in about three weeks.

FSSA chief medical officer Dan Rusyniak with a personal testimonial on the value of #masks: a patient coughed directly in his face in the ER. He quarantined for two weeks but tested negative and never had symptoms. "Please wear a mask. It may save your life."

Teaser for next week's briefing: Holcomb says the panel working on pandemic recovery plans for various economic sectors will announce its recommendations next week.

Holcomb has returned to the conference table for the Q&A. In addition to the break with tradition by starting at the lectern, he's in suit and tie for this one.

Holcomb, acknowledging some people still object to #masks: "Not one doctor, not one person that cares about stopping this pandemic, has brought a poll to me. This isn't about polling; this is about slowing the spread."

Sullivan: the #ClickItOrTicket campaign years ago, which also had small-L libertarian opponents, increased #seatbelt usage from 18% to 88% in 16 months.

Holcomb: "It's not that the voices got louder (calling for a #mask requirement; it's that the numbers got older....I've seen this movie before and I know how it ends." He says he doesn't want to be wishing he'd done it sooner -- & says other govs have told him they wish THEY had.

Holcomb says he wants to avoid having to reimpose restrictions lifted over the last two months.

Sullivan: death isn't the only bad long-term #coronavirus outcome. Lengthy recoveries appear to lead to longterm health effects.

She noted earlier that deaths are a lagging indicator; cases go up a few weeks before deaths from those cases do.

.@IndianaChamber statement calls Holcomb's #MaskUpHoosiers order a "necessary step": "The wearing of masks is a proven strategy for protecting others and enhancing our health – both physical and economic."

Final q finds the 3 doctors in the room stifling laughter while knocking down persistent myth that #masks will cause toxins or carbon dioxide to build up in the blood. Sullivan notes lots of people, from seriously ill kids to doctors, wear masks all day with no ill effects.