Thread by @EricBermanIN

Holcomb: "We are ready to move ahead in a measured way" to reopen Indiana.

A more formal start to the briefing today, with Holcomb standing instead of sitting, and delivering an address straight to the camera before Q&A.

Holcomb: "Words cannot capture the pain and grief so many of us are feeling right now....Let us never, ever forget for one second that the more than 1,000 Hoosiers we have lost to this disease are not numbers. They are our grandparents, our parents, our children." #coronavirus

Holcomb thanks health care professionals, delivery drivers, others who have kept working to get IN through the #CoronavirusLockdown, as well as "all those who have taken this virus seriously and kept their distance... You have kept the terrible toll from being even worse."

Holcomb: goal from beginning was to #flattenthecurve so health system wasn't overwhelmed. In reopening state, he'll watch for 2-week trend of:
--drop in hospitalizations
--hospitals having capacity for ICU and ventilators
--enough #PPE
--enough testing

He says we've met all 4.

Holcomb: state will help small businesses acquire #PPE. And he notes deal announced this week with @Optum to open 50 testing sites (first 20 to open by middle of next week). The state is also expanding contact tracing of infected patients, another key benchmark to reopen.

Holcomb: we'll keep watching all those numbers, but given the trends, there's 5-stage roadmap to gradually get back to normal by #FourthofJuly. (Note: that's the day before #Brickyard400.) He warns this is all subject to change if numbers go south.

Stage 1 is what we've been in for nearly 6 weeks. Stage 2 rolls out over the next three weeks.

On Monday, restrictions begin lifting for all except Marion and Lake Counties (May 11), and Cass County (May 18). Those 3 account for 48% of IN #coronavirus cases.

Holcomb: Senior citizens and those with underlying conditions should continue to remain home as much as possible. But in all but those 3 counties, #stayhome order is lifted, and cap on large gatherings raised to 25 people. Factories previously considered nonessential can reopen.

Retailers previously closed can open, at half capacity, including malls. Restaurants can resume dine-in service May 11; hair care, nail salons, tattoo parlors, etc can also reopen that day, by appointment only and with social distancing.

Worship services are exception to limit on mass gatherings: they can resume Friday, in all 92 counties. But Holcomb says he'd prefer congregations to continue remote/virtual options, and high-risk groups should still stay home.

Bars remain closed.

Stage 3 starts May 24, and reopens gyms, playgrounds, movie theaters. Mass gathering limit raised to 100. Holcomb again reemphasizes he'll be watching numbers and contact tracing before pulling trigger to go to stage 3; "We're not going to let off the gas now."

If still on track, Stage 4 starts June 14: bars finally open, gathering limits raised to 250, entertainment venues can open, retailers no longer limited on capacity (but should observe social distancing).

Stage 5 = no limits, but social distancing should continue. That would allow Brickyard and State Fair to go on. At that point, state will decide what to do with the next school year.

The state has set up a website with all of this: backontrack.in.gov.

Holcomb: "Now comes the hard part." He warns #coronavirus cases will inevitably rise as people start moving around again. People need to stay vigilant.

Holcomb quotes @AJFoytRacing: "The race is won in the last 50 laps." Then, without attribution, quotes Churchill, saying future historians will recognize that for Hoosiers, "This was their finest hour."

Some sad non-#coronavirus news: @StateHealthIN Commissioner Kris Box's father died this morning. She'd missed Monday and Tuesday's briefings to be with him, and is of course absent again today.

Most of Indiana will emerge from #StayHome order Monday, but restrictions remain: bit.ly/2SqDVg9

Holcomb executive order does NOT override local governments who want to maintain stricter/longer restrictions. Marion County's lockdown order runs through May 15, four days beyond Holcomb's Stage 2 date for the county.

Holcomb: "99.99% of Hoosiers have been doing the right thing, and making a lot of sacrifices along the way." State will follow up on complaints about businesses not following the rules, but "There's no state in America that has enough law enforcement to chase down every rumor."

Holcomb says it's up to everyone individually to follow the rules; "If people look for short cuts, we may slip back" and have to tighten down again.

National Guard Adjutant General Dale Lyles says materials to open a Lake County field hospital are in place at the Gary armory, ready to be deployed if needed; so far, it hasn't been.

Holcomb: "We don't want to entice people to go back into an unsafe environment prematurely," but we also don't want to keep limits in place longer than necessary. He says it's "a little bit science and a little bit art" finding the right balance, but vows to be methodical.

State already has 84 testing sites, set up by local governments or other entities. @Optum opens 20 more next week, 30 more the week after that. ISDH will add a map on its website Monday of where they are.

Holcomb on Marion County staying under lockdown while doughnut counties begin coming out: line's got to be drawn somewhere. He went with county lines. ISDH adds that they're analyzing regional hospital capacity to assess who's ready.

Holcomb: "We see a lot of variables out there that would make us change course." But he says he thought it would be helpful to local governments to have a sense of what the state sees as the endgame, thus the roadmap to a potential July 4 full lifting of restrictions.