Thread by @ChadSPriest

🚨🚨An urgent 🧵 about #COVID in Indiana.

1/ Dear Hoosiers: We have a #COVID problem. Our 7-day average positivity rate is hovering around 11%. The last time we saw positivity like this – May, 20202; Oct, 2020; Jan, 2021.

2/ Some counties in Indiana have 7-day #COVID positivity rates nearing 20%. I’m talking to you Posey, Warrick, Spencer, Dubois, Orange, Jennings, Clay, Hendricks, Putnam, Vermillion, Warren and Carroll.

3/ In a few days, there won’t be enough Twitter characters allowed to list counties in Indiana with >20% #COVID positivity in one Tweet. While that may be an interesting new way of marking outbreak severity, it is deeply disturbing and very dangerous.

4/ Thanks to vax, deaths from #COVID have remained low. But death is, of course, a lagging indicator. Hospital admissions are way up, with around 1800 Hoosiers currently hospitalized with COVID. We last saw admissions this high in Nov, 2020 and Jan 2021.

5/ Schools are reporting cases at an alarming rate, and more children are becoming ill from #COVID than at any other point during this pandemic.

6/ My friends and colleagues who work in hospitals throughout Indiana are reporting dire conditions. Staff shortages (the result of burn-out, compassion fatigue & difficult working conditions) are reducing capacity in hospitals.

7/ Reduced staffing capacity, plus increased demand for emerg. care, testing & need for hospitalization is putting serious pressure on our healthcare system. This pressure is already resulting in changes in the quality of care we can provide Hoosiers.

8/ Our rescue capacity in Indiana is not infinite, and it isn’t a matter of buying more ventilators or beds. If we cannot rapidly control #COVID in Indiana, Hoosiers will suffer – those with COVID, and those without. There is hope.

9/ COVID vaccines are performing well in preventing serious illness, hospitalization and death. Vaccines provide highly effective protection to individuals, including those who suspect or know they have had COVID previously.

10/ There are 3,053,439 Hoosiers fully vaccinated against COVID 19. That’s great but there are 6,720,000 Hoosiers. That’s ~46% vaccination rate. It is worse in some counties. Not enough Hoosiers are taking advantage of these safe, free and effective vaccines.

11/ Unless and until we get a much larger proportion of the population vaccinated, Indiana schools will be challenged to operate, hospitals will have capacity probs and our family, friends and neighbors will continue to get sick. And some will die.

12/ It may be an inconvenient truth, but we are in the middle of one of the darkest periods of this COVID pandemic right now. This moment. As you read this tweet. We must act now to prevent the situation from degrading further.

13/ Every Hoosier is critical to this effort. And every Hoosier can take simple steps to keep those we love and care for safe. This is Indiana, we know how to pull together when we need to. Here are some humble suggestion from your community health nurse…

14/ 💉 Get vaccinated against #COVID19 as soon as possible. If you have already completed your series, prepare for your booster which will be available in September. Click here to make a vaccine appt: vaccine.coronavirus.in.gov/en-US/

15/ Talk with your family members, friends & colleagues about vax. Listen carefully, and support them in their decision making. Helping others get vaccinated is an act of Hoosier Hospitality and love. Not sure how to have the talk? Check out: vimeo.com/520145503

16/ Wear a mask indoors. I know, I know. Wearing a mask inside sucks. There is no other way to put it. But a mask reduces droplet spread, and that reduces transmission risk. And that can save a life. If our kids can do it at school, you can do it at the grocery. 😷

17/ Avoid giant indoor crowds, and don’t let your children near them outside of controlled school settings It’s still warm outside (hot!) so this isn’t too hard to do right now. But it will become harder soon, all the more reason to get things under control now.

18/ Ventilate rooms whenever you can if people are gathering indoors. If you can open windows, do it. If you can cross-ventilate, do it. #Dads love cross-ventilation, so dads this is a great chance for you to help.

19/ Listen, you don’t have to hide in a bunker. You don’t have to stop doing things you love to do. We just have to do those things with care and with an eye on safety. Vaccination; masking; avoiding giant indoor crowds; safeguarding children. This is the way.

20/ Hoosiers, the situation is DIRE right now. But it can be brought under control. We need to work together, set aside our differences and tend to the basic things that will protect our children. We can reduce the spread of #COVID, but we have to work together. End 🧵