Eric Berman Profile picture
Aug 26, 2020 29 tweets 7 min read Read on X
.@GovHolcomb's weekly #coronavirus briefing about to begin. He's expected to announce whether he's extending, ending or revising Indiana's #MaskMandate and capacity limits on bars, restaurants and entertainment venues; both orders are currently set to expire at midnight.
Chief Justice Loretta Rush is making her first appearance in one of these briefings, to discuss a new mediation program to prevent evictions. @SecretaryLawson is also on hand to discuss #Election2020.
Holcomb: capacity limits and #maskmandate will remain in place another 30 days.
Holcomb: Positivity rate is holding steady, but "We want to see that go down, (and) we don't want to see it go up."
Box: Hospitalizations are still 59% above post-peak low of June 26 (though down 6% from post-peak high on August 6).
Box: State dashboard will now assign a "score" to each county, based on average of 3 metrics: new cases per 100K people, positivity rate, and week-over-week percentage change in positivity rate.
Averages will be sorted into four categories of community spread, and carry recommendations (not requirements) for how schools should respond.
Box: "We continue to see many (school) cases related to sleepovers and other parties with school friends."
Box: Daviess County outbreak (2nd-highest positivity rate in Indiana) began at a church and has affected several businesses. Neighboring Martin County has the highest rate in the state.
Box: Adams County, which last week had highest positivity rate in state (tied to one "local establishment), now scores in lowest risk category. She says Adams and Daviess illustrate how quickly following mask/distancing recommendations can control an outbreak, and vice versa.
Box says health officials in counties scored orange & yellow report their residents "don't believe in the #maskmandate and aren't following it." She & Holcomb repeat masks are critical to controlling outbreak, and avoiding reimposition of restrictions, as seen in other states.
Box: new county #COVID scores will go live on @StateHealthIN dashboard next Wednesday and be updated weekly. The dashboard already posts daily updates on positivity rate, one of the 3 components of the score.
.@SecretaryLawson: "We will be going forward with a normal #election process." Says office is working "feverishly" to ensure health protections for pollworkers, including sneeze guards, sanitizer and masks, plus masks and sanitizer for voters.
Indiana is one of 6 states which will not have universal #MailInVoting option, though Lawson says she still expects 1.3 to 1.8 million mailed #absenteeballots under existing law. "We are working with @USPS to ensure that ballots are prioritized and received in a timely manner."
Lawson: if you vote by mail, mail application no later than Oct 19, and send it back no later than Oct 27, per postmaster general's advice. "And my sage advice would be, don't wait. Apply today."
Lawson: ballots haven't been printed yet because presidential nominees weren't official until the conventions. Trump and Pence were officially nominated Monday, and ballots should go out soon.
Lawson: absentee criteria include confinement due to illness. "If you are staying home due to a condition that puts you at high risk, you may qualify" for an absentee ballot. "But if you're going to the grocery store, you are not confined to your home."
Lawson also urges voters concerned about polling places to take advantage of 4-week early voting period.
Lawson: we still need pollworkers and absentee ballot counters.
Lawson urges people to volunteer to work the polls, and urges organizations, like the bar association, to recruit their members to help.
Lawson is discussing election #cybersecurity. I wrote about the office's safeguarding efforts in February: bit.ly/3hA3dTx
Lawson: law is clear on what constitutes "confinement" to home. "It's really up to the voter to decide which of those reasons [for voting absentee] applies to you, the voter."
Box: turnaround time for test results is "very much improved."
Box: along with people who won't wear masks, go to work even though they're sick, etc., one barrier to reducing spread is people who don't answer calls from contact tracers (still about 1/4 of their calls). ISDH will soon begin PSA campaign to urge people to "answer the call."
Box: people with symptoms are the priority for testing. But asymptomatic who are in contact with people known to be infected, or workers in hospitals/nursing homes, "Please still get tested." She notes people with COVID but without symptoms are still carriers.
Holcomb: "What sets us back is when we're constantly reacting. Maybe it's the basketball player in me, but you have to play offense" against the virus. Box says people who find restaurants, etc. not enforcing masks "should consider taking their business elsewhere."
While there's been no state enforcement of #maskmandate (though some cities and counties have), Box and Holcomb both point to businesses which have posted signs reminding patrons to wear masks, and say people can take responsibility for protecting others by following requirement.
Holcomb: "I understand frustration" of people who don't like restrictions, "but we've got to deal with reality. And the sooner we deal with reality, every citizen, protecting not just yourself but who you're around, the sooner IN will bend that positivity rate down."
Box adds, "We have to do what we can do as Hoosiers to control this virus until we have a vaccine."

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Eric Berman

Eric Berman Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @EricBermanIN

Jul 25, 2022
Halls outside the Senate chamber where #abortion hearing is taking place are jammed with protesters. Chanting is audible in chamber.
Sen. Sue Glick (R-LaGrange) predicts amendments and discussion of possible criminal penalties. Abortion opponents have objected to the lack of enforcement provisions.
Testimony has begun. First witness is a woman raped twice as a teenager, urging legislators not to minimize the trauma accompanying sexual assault.
Read 12 tweets
Jul 25, 2022
Nearly all of the 40 #INLegis Democrats are meeting with @VP at the Indiana State Library to discuss the #abortion bill. First Senate hearing is this afternoon.
.@VP Harris: #INLegis “on the front lines of one of the most critical issues in America today.”
Harris: Dobbs ruling “has already created a health care crisis in America….We are seeing many states attempting to criminalize heath care providers.”
Read 5 tweets
Feb 11, 2022
2,839 new Indiana #coronavirus cases, with 9.4% of today's batch of tests positive. The 7-day positivity rate, which runs a week behind, continues a two-week plunge to 18.3%, still in @StateHealthIN's high-risk zone but lowest since Jan 3. Cases are down 60% from last week.
108 newly reported Indiana #coronavirus deaths, half from the last week but with five dating back to 2021. The death toll rises to 21,299. IDH has also identified one more presumptive #COVID19 death, for a total toll of 22,137.
Indiana #COVID19 hospitalizations drop below 2,000 for the first time since Nov 27 (and lowest since two days before that), at 1,932, down 104 from yesterday. Of those, 392 are in intensive care, 25 fewer than yesterday and fewest since Nov 21. The state has 300 open ICU beds.
Read 5 tweets
Jan 19, 2022
All 92 counties are now rated red (high risk) on @StateHealthIN's weekly risk score.
16,502 new Indiana #coronavirus cases, 2nd-highest total ever, but 3rd week-over-week drop in 5 days.

24.3% of today's batch of tests were positive. The 7-day positivity rate, which runs a week behind, holds steady at a record 30%. It's the 1st time since Dec 26 it hasn't risen.
118 newly reported Indiana #COVID19 deaths, all but 13 in the last five days (but with one late report from 2021), push the death toll to 19,761. IDH has retracted three presumptive #COVID deaths, for a total toll of 20,500.
Read 5 tweets
Jan 18, 2022
Debate begins in Indiana House on final vote on bill limiting employer #vaccinemandates.
House Majority Leader Matt Lehman: "This bill is not about the vaccine itself; it's about the people affected" by mandates. #INLegis
Lehman points to nurses who testified they fear getting fired for being unvaxed, after working for 9 months of pandemic before #vaccine became available.

Last week's #SCOTUS ruling means those nurses aren't affected by this bill; they're still required to get vaxed or get fired.
Read 10 tweets
Jan 18, 2022
710 Hoosiers are in ICU with #COVID19, one fewer than yesterday and the fourth straight drop, but a jump in non-#COVID patients drops the number of open Indiana ICU beds to 218. Overall, 3,460 Hoosiers are hospitalized with COVID, 97 more than yesterday after a three-day decline.
12,126 new Indiana #coronavirus cases, with 25% of today's batch of tests coming back positive. The 7-day positivity rate, which runs a week behind, sets a 15th straight record at 30%.
77 newly reported Indiana #coronavirus deaths, all in the last week; this is the first @StateHealthIN report with no belated reports from 2021 (though there could be more later). The 2-year death toll rises to 19,643; counting presumptive #COVID19 deaths, the total is 20,385.
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(