INDIANAPOLIS —
Sunday, May 3
Noon
The Indiana State Department of Health reported 645 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 throughout the state. The total of cases statewide is 19,933.
The ISDH also reported 17 new coronavirus-related deaths in the state. The state has 1,132 total deaths statewide.
Tomorrow the state is set to begin Stage 2 of the state's reopening plan. This includes the reopening of retail and commercial businesses at 50 percent capacity and social gatherings up to 25 people with social distancing.
Local County COVID-19 statistics:
- Clark County: 331 positive cases, 16 deaths
- Floyd County: 203 positive cases, 17 deaths
- Harrison County: 138 positive cases, eight deaths
- Jefferson County: 30 positive cases, zero deaths
- Scott: 52 positive cases, two deaths
- Washington: 45 positive cases, zero deaths
Saturday, May 2
Noon
The Indiana State Department of Health reported 676 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 throughout the state. The total of cases statewide is 19,295.
The ISDH also reported 53 new coronavirus-related deaths in the state. The state has 1,115 total deaths statewide.
Local County COVID-19 statistics:
- Clark County: 329 positive cases, 16 deaths
- Floyd County: 200 positive cases, 17 deaths
- Harrison County: 135 positive cases, eight deaths
- Jefferson County: 30 positive cases, zero deaths
- Scott: 51 positive cases, two deaths
- Washington: 44 positive cases, zero deaths
Friday, May 1
2:30 p.m.
Governor Eric Holcomb and state leaders are detailing plans to reopen Indiana. It includes dates for each stage and what you can and cannot do.
The plan includes 5 stages and Indiana is already in stage 1 which allowed elective surgeries, essential business, and critical infrastructure.
State officials expect COVID-19 cases will increase with each stage, but the focus will be on making sure health care capacity is able to handle those cases.
There will be four requirements to begin the stages:
- The number of hospitalized patients statewide has decreased for 14 straight days.
- The state retains surge capacity to handle patients needing ICU care and ventilators.
- To be able to test all Hoosiers with COVID-19 symptoms.
- Have the ability to contact all individuals who came in contact with someone testing positive for COVID-19 and expand contact tracing.
Here is how the stages will work:
Stage 2 - May 4
May 11: Lake and Marion counties — May 18: Cass County
(Local governments can impose guidelines that are more strict than the state recommendations)
- People who are 65 and older along with those having high-risk health conditions should stay home.
- Everyone is encouraged to wear face masks in public.
- Social gatherings can be up to 25 people as long as there is social distancing.
- Essential travel restrictions will be lifted.
- Remote work encouraged to continue wherever possible.
- Manufacturers, industrial operations and other infrastructure that has not been open to date - can reopen.
- Half of BMV branches will reopen Monday with more in the coming weeks - appointment only.
- Public libraries can reopen.
- Retail and commercial businesses will be allowed to operate at 50 percent capacity.
- Shopping malls may open at 50 percent capacity with indoor common areas at 25 percent capacity.
- After a county has been in Stage 2 for one week, personal services like hair salons can reopen by appointment only and with social distancing.
After a county has been in Stage 2 for one week, restaurants can reopen at 50 percent capacity. People will need to sit at small tables and not at the bar.
What remains closed in Stage 2
- Bars and nightclubs.
- Gyms
- Community centers
- Venues including sport, fairs, theme parks, movie theaters, bowling alleys, wedding, funeral, etc.
- Basketball courts, playgrounds, water parks, and swimming pools
- Adult daycares remain closed through May 31
- Casinos
- Campgrounds
- K-12 and other educational buildings
- No visitors to nursing homes or funerals
Religious services
Beginning May 8, religious services (statewide – no exceptions) may convene inside places of worship. The updated guidance will be coming.
A religious service will need to comply with social distancing - seating spaced apart. it is recommended for people to wear face coverings.
Churches will not be subject to the 25 person social gathering limitation.
They are encouraged to conduct as many activities as possible virtually and potentially add more services to allow for smaller groups.
Stage 3 - May 24
Marion, Lake, and Cass counties will continue on their delayed timeline.
A series of other locations and businesses will be able to reopen at this point.
- Gyms and fitness centers
- Playgrounds, tennis courts, other facilities
- Movie theaters at half capacity
- Retail stores and malls to 75 percent capacity
- Social gatherings of up to 100 people
Stage 4 - June 14
Marion, Lake, and Cass counties will continue on their delayed timeline.
More businesses will be able to open and larger gathering will now be allowed.
- Social gatherings up to 250 people
- Retails stores and malls at full capacity
- Dining room services to 75 percent capacity
- Bars and nightclubs can open at 50 percent capacity
- Cultural entertainment and tourism can open at 50 percent capacity (Including zoos, museums, etc.)
- Sports venues and amusement parks at 50 percent capacity
Stage 5 - July 4
Marion, Lake, and Cass counties will continue on their delayed timeline.
The state will begin to open sports venues and other large facilities.
Fairs and festivals will be allowed.
Retail and restaurants can function at full capacity.
Restrictions will be lifted at amusement parks, water parks, etc.
The Indiana Department of Corrections has reported that 11 inmates deaths are related to COVID-19.
Nine cases had confirmed tests while the other two were presumed to be related to COVID-19.
The DOC also reported that 102 staff members, as well as 184 inmates, have recovered from the virus added information to their report showing how many people have recovered from COVID-19. So far, they say 102 staff members and 184 inmates have recovered.
Noon
ISDH reported on May 1 that there are 815 new confirmed cases in the state, totaling 18,630.
The department also reported an additional 55 deaths. More than 1,000 Hoosiers have died from the virus.
As Indiana's stay-at-home order is due to expire, its neighbor to the east has extended a similar order for nearly another month.
Ohio's stay-at-home order now extends through 11:59 p.m. May 29, with a few exceptions.
Gov. Mike DeWine announced Monday that the order will be extended as the state begins its phased reopening. Late Thursday night, DeWine issued the new order.
"The stay-at-home order will be extended with the exceptions of when retail opens up -- there will certainly be a major exception for that. There will be an exception in just a few days when manufacturing companies are allowed to start back," DeWine said.
Additional details will likely be made available Friday, the same day Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb is expected to release new details for Hoosiers to follow in May.
Thursday, April 30
2:30 p.m.
The Indiana State Department of Health reported the state's first COVID-19 death in a person under the age of 19.
The state is also looking to add an additional 30 Optum testing sites to those already planned to increase testing around Indiana. The initial sites are set to open in the next 14 days and will allow 6,600 Hoosiers to be tested each day.
The state has processed 1,391,774 unemployment insurance payments for a total of $732 million to Hoosiers.
Unemployment claims:
- 57,397 - week ending April 25
- 75,483 - week ending April 18
- 118,184 - week ending April 11
- 133,639 - week ending April 4
- 139,174 - week ending March 28
The DWD said that if an employer reopens and a person refuses to go back to work over concerns of COVID-19, that person could be denied unemployment benefits.
Noon
ISDH says that there are 669 new confirmed cases in Indiana, totaling 17,835.
There are forty-four more deaths that have been reported, totaling more than 1,000 in the state. These deaths happened between April 7 and April 29.
About 19 percent of Hoosiers tested have tested positive for the virus. There have been a total of 94,998 people in the state who received the test.
- Indianapolis city leaders will be holding discussions with Simon Property Group Thursday afternoon regarding Simon's announcement to open shopping malls this weekend. Dr. Virginia Caine of the Marion County Public Health Department believes that decision could lead to increased spread of the new coronavirus and cited an uptick in cases in Georgia after that state opened businesses this past weekend. While Dr. Caine is not recommending malls be back open, she said beginning May 2, area golf courses are allowed to re-open, provided operators ensure proper social distancing among golfers and follow the health department's strict sanitation practices.
- Farmers’ markets, which serve as a community-centric source of fresh produce and meat, will also be allowed to open beginning May 2.
More than 3.8 million laid-off workers applied for unemployment benefits last week as the U.S. economy slid further into a crisis that is becoming the most devastating since the 1930s.
Roughly 30.3 million people have now filed for jobless aid in the six weeks since the coronavirus outbreak began forcing millions of employers to close their doors and slash their workforces.
That is more people than live in the New York and Chicago metropolitan areas combined, and it’s by far the worst string of layoffs on record. It adds up to more than one in six American workers.
Wednesday, April 29
2:30p.m.
Late next week, a cleaning service will be made available for medical workers, dentists, and other essential workers using N95 masks. The service will allow each N95 mask to be cleaned up to 20 times, which will greatly help with the amount of PPE available.
ISDH announced increased contact tracing to track people who came in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. When contacts are identified, they will need to quarantine for 14 days.
The contact tracing along with the increased testing announced on Tuesday are critical steps in Indiana reopening and moving away from the stay-at-home order.
The Hamilton County Health Department says has decided to start releasing the number of deaths at long-term care facilities effective Wednesday. It will issue a new report every Monday.
LTC Deaths as of April 27, 2020
- Carmel Health & Living (10)
- Hamilton Trace (7)
- The Stratford (6)
- Brookdale Carmel (3)
- Heritage Woods (1)
- The Hearth at Windermere (5)
- Grand Brook Memory Care (2)
- Harbour Manor (3)
- Maple Park (1)
State officials say they do not plan to release the names of long-term care facilities with either cases or deaths. It is up to the facility to communicate directly to residents and their representatives.
New guidelines issued to all long-term care facilities order them to communicate the number of cases and deaths on a daily basis, along with the measures the facility is taking to keep people safe.
The state is releasing aggregate numbers of cases and deaths each Monday. (see chart below) As of last Friday, the 260 deaths in 85 different long-term care facilities accounted for 32 percent of the state's deaths related to COVID-19.
Noon
There are 605 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state, according to Wednesday's ISDH report, and 63 more deaths. Those deaths happened from April 7 to April 28. That brings the total of confirmed cases to 17,182 while more than 900 people have died from the virus in Indiana.
According to the updated report, a total of 964 Hoosiers have been confirmed to have died of COVID-19, an increase of 63 over the previous 24 hours. Another 101 probable deaths have been reported, taking the total deaths from COVID-19 in the state to more than 1,000 if you count "probably deaths." Probable deaths are those for which a physician listed COVID-19 as a contributing cause based on X-rays, scans, and other clinical symptoms but for which no positive test is on record.
Marion County had the most new cases, at 218.
Other counties with more than 10 new cases were:
- Allen (26)
- Cass (27)
- Dearborn (13)
- Elkhart (14)
- Hamilton (19)
- Hendricks (13)
- Johnson (13)
- LaPorte (10)
- Lake (71)
- Noble (10)
- St. Joseph (18)
- Wabash (10)
More than 91,000 people have been tested in the state for COVID-19. Approximately 18 percent of Hoosiers tested for the virus have tested positive.
Tuesday, April 28
2:30 p.m.
Indiana says 87,000 Hoosiers have been tested so far, and new efforts are coming to test more people.
OptumServe Health Services powered by Logistics Health Inc. will be opening 20 testing sites across the state next week, with plans to open a total of 50 sites in the coming weeks. Once all sites are open, they will have the ability to test 6,600 people per day. Anyone with symptoms or anyone who has been in contact with someone who has the virus is eligible to be tested. No one will be charged for testing, and registration for the test will be done through an online portal. Sites are expected to be open Monday-Friday for eight hours a day.
Noon
Indiana is reporting 57 more deaths and 650 more cases of the coronavirus.
That makes a total of 16,588 cases and 901 deaths in the state.
The deaths date back to April 18, while the reports of positive cases date back to April 24.
So far, there have been 87,181 coronavirus tests given.
- 2,737 New Tests
The Indianapolis Zoo has rescheduled its largest single-day fundraiser due to the coronavirus pandemic.
- Zoobilation 2020 presented by Indianapolis Power & Light Company will now take place on Friday, Aug. 14. The 34th annual black-tie fundraiser was previously scheduled for Friday, June 12.
- Tickets went on sale Feb. 3 at 9 a.m. and sold out within the hour.
Monday, April 27
2:30 p.m.
FSSA is expanding some SNAP benefits and services. Children who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch will begin receiving SNAP benefits. Around 400,000 Indiana children will receive additional benefits on their existing SNAP cards for the first time. This service will be available during the public health emergency.
SNAP will also help with food delivery to high-risk populations including the elderly. This means they will be able to have groceries delivered using their SNAP benefits. This program will stay available even after the public health emergency is over.
FSSA is also launching the BeWellIndiana.org website to help address mental health issues. It provides information including where you can find free expert mental health resources, at-home tips for addressing mental health issues, and self-assessments.
Indiana is opening 12 sites to help people recovering from COVID-19 and experiencing/at risk of homelessness.
Families who need childcare or help to pay for it call 800-299-1629 or visit brighterfuturesindiana.org.
Indiana is offering new guidance for long-term care facilities. They will be required to designate staff for daily communication with residents and their loved ones.
Noon
ISDH is reporting 15,961 positive cases of COVID-19 — 963 more than reported Sunday. Those cases date back to April 22.
The number of deaths reported since Sunday increased by 31, now totaling 844.
- 2779 New Tests
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