FLOYD COUNTY, Ind. — Indiana's statewide mask mandate went into effect Monday, aiming to flatten the state's COVID-19 curve.
Cases jumped by more than 500 Monday, bringing the state close to 63,000 total cases.
"Face coverings can and will help us blunt this increase," said Governor Eric Holcomb about the mandate. But Holcomb stripped his order of any criminal penalties, which some say could make enforcement more difficult.
Clark County Health Officer Eric Yazel said he hopes it doesn't come to that.
"Our citizens have been very responsive throughout COVID-19 so hopefully they'll listen to us now when we say that more aggressive means are necessary," said Yazel.
Yazel said Clark county has seen an uptick in hospitalizations from COVID-19, adding that the data does support a more aggressive decision like a mask mandate. As the mandate takes effect, Yazel is asking Hoosiers to be respectful.
"We will not stand for people being verbally abusive to businesses and things like that," he said.
For the Clark County Health Department, enforcement will come after seeing consistent issues.
"If we see a certain business is consistently not enforcing the mask mandate or we are getting multiple calls about an individual, then we would obviously first approach it from a education and cooperation side of things, and then honestly this is all new to us as well so if we did have to take further steps as far as legal action that's something that we would have to sort out on our own as well," said Yazel.
In Floyd County, a mask mandate isn't new. The health department there launched their own mandate days before the governor's took effect.
"The intent was to try to stop the increase in the number of cases and also to make it safer to get children back to school," said Floyd County Health Officer Thomas Harris.
According to data from Harris, Floyd County's percentage of positive Coronavirus cases has risen from 1.5 to 8.3 over the last month. Harris said masks are the most effective defense against the spread of the virus.
"Wearing a mask is our go to weapon to prevent the spread," he said. "I really think people to stay in the game. They need to continue to wear their masks. They need to continue to practice social distancing and they need to continue good hand sanitation."
Floyd County's mask mandate is in effect until at least September 11.
Both Clark and Floyd County Health departments are asking any business or individual struggling to enforce the mask mandate to give them a call.
►Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.