INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -
Indiana’s current limits on crowd sizes for restaurants, bars and public
events will remain in place until at least the end of July as the state
faces a growing number of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, Gov. Eric
Holcomb said Wednesday.
Holcomb lifted
Indiana’s stay-at-home order and started easing coronavirus restrictions in
early May but halted those steps two weeks ago as the state started seeing
infections grow again in a reversal of steady declines seen since April.
Indiana’s status -
like that of many other states - has grown worse with a new jump in
hospitalizations for coronavirus illnesses reported Wednesday by state
health officials.
“It is a very
volatile environment out there, not just in our state but surrounding our
state, around country,” Holcomb said.
The governor,
however, said he would not issue a statewide mask-wearing mandate or direct
school districts on whether they should have children return to classrooms
for the start of new school years in the coming weeks.
Holcomb’s decision
means Indiana restaurants will continue to be allowed 75% capacity in their
dining rooms, while bars, nightclubs, bowling alleys, museums and movie
theaters can be open at half capacity.
The state will also
continue its current 250-person limit on social gatherings unless health
officials have approved safety plans for those events.
At least three
large school districts - Washington Township in Indianapolis, Anderson
Community Schools and Portage Township in Porter County - have decided to
begin the academic year online and not immediately bring children back to
the classroom. The state’s largest high school - the 5,400-student Carmel
High School - plan a hybrid with students splitting their time between
classroom and online work.
The Washington
Township school board has criticized Holcomb and other leaders, saying it
found itself in a “difficult position” because of “limited specific
guidance” from the state.
Holcomb said
Wednesday that he believed leaders among the state’s nearly 300 public
school districts best know the situation in their communities. He said he
would consider requests from the Indiana State Teachers Association,
including for a statewide school face mask requirement.
“Our intent has
always been to get back to in-school instruction when it’s safe and where
it’s safe,” Holcomb said.
Holcomb, a
Republican, said school districts would not face any state funding cuts by
not reopening classrooms - a split from President Donald Trump’s threat to
do so.
“What that place of
instruction looks like, whether it is virtual or in the class it has got to
be safe, that is where we draw the line,” Holcomb said.
The 881 people in
Indiana hospitals with COVID-19 as of Tuesday was the most since June 14
after falling to as low as 595 on June 26, according to state health
department statistics.
Indiana had seen a
steady decline in hospitalizations since being over 1,400 a day through
April into early May before the recent trend upward.
The additional
hospitalizations come as the state health department has been reporting new
confirmed COVID-19 infections at the highest levels since early May.
While Holcomb said
he would leave decisions about mask-wearing requirements up to city and
county officials, both he and State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box
urged the public to wear masks and take other steps to slow the coronavirus
spread. They suggested that a rollback to tougher quarantine orders was
possible.
“If see things
continue to be a problem or trend in the wrong direction, we are going to
make decisions that need to be made to make sure that they don’t go the
wrong direction,” Box said. “So we don’t end up like other states that are
having an overwhelming surge.”