Indiana extending stay-at-home order through May 1 Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Hide Transcript Show Transcript

good afternoon. Thank you for joining us Yesterday during the press conference, Commissioner Pain at the PWD Department of Workforce Development mentioned that last night they were going to be making a major upgrade on the U. I operating system. Please report that that's done and went well. They have already successfully started to send a $600 additional payments out to claim its who had filed for the regular unemployment benefits we project that will end up doing about, um, excuse me $200 million on Monday. So Fred, be prepared. You may get some questions later on today in the conference, and with that, I'll pitch it over to Dr Box for our Daily report. Thank you, Governor. Today we reported 642 new cases of covert 19 in the state of Indiana with unfortunately 42 additional deaths. We also received 3718 new test results, which is a New Dehli High total. We continue to see about 19% of our case come back positive, knowing that in the past we've been testing our highest risk populations. However, as we open up testing toe, larger groups of individuals who are less acutely ill. We continue to expect to see that percentage decrease. Many of you have been asking for more data with regards to hospitalization and recovery. Thanks to incredible partners like Peter M. B and his team at Regan Street, I will be able to bride today more information with regards to these hospitalizations. Starting out first with our data of county by county, you can see our Indiana Dust County by county. The details on reporting county by county the I C U bets, which we've already flipped through, show that 47% were available, with 22% being used for Cove it and 32% being used, 2% being used for Cove it and 32% being used for Non Cove It when we look at our ventilator 75% of available and that has been traditionally about what that number's been for the past week, and 14% of our cove it ventilators have been in use with 11% for Non Cove it as we look at this data that is now available from Peter and his team at Regan Strief, the Indiana Health Information Exchange and Connor Norwood and his team at F s s A n i s th we have some information to share. This data was pulled from the Indiana Patient Care Collaborative from the Indiana Health Information uh, portal, which is the best way that we have to match our positive patients with whether they are hospitalized or whether they needed to be admitted to the i. C. U were ableto analyze 7955 patients that were positive for covert 19 and take a deeper dive into how these patients fared during the course of their disease. Of our 7955 cases, 2763 of them had an emergency room visit support A total of about 35% of that 7955 individuals 2026 or 26% of them ended up hospitalized. And so what I want to point out is that that means there's an additional almost 6000 individuals out there that were positive for covert 19 that never hit our hospital system and were assumed that they were recovered or recovering at home. 501 of our 2026 individuals what that were hospitalized, ended up being transferred or admitted to the intensive care unit for rate of 25% and out of our total patients 7955. That 501 meant that only 6% of individuals that were positive for covert 19 ended up admitted to it intensive care unit. We also look at the number of individuals in that 2026 patients that were admitted to the hospital and found that 1384 of them had already been discharged for 68% discharged. 20% are likely still hospitalized. And unfortunately, we know that 12% of those cove it 19 patients that were hospitalized are known to have died and looking at our 2026 positive covert 19 patients that were admitted to the hospital. The average length of stay for all patients was 9.4 days. If we looked at those who were admitted to the intensive care unit during that stay there, average length of stay was 10.4 days, and for those who were not admitted to the intensive care unit if their average length of stay was nine days. As you can imagine, analyzing this data was a huge endeavor. I am very grateful for everyone who has pitched in and helped us with this data analyzed analyzing this data, we're going to continue to work on getting more data, specifically breaking this down by race and by gender and ethnicity. And we'll be able to give that data to you as that comes on board. Thank you very much. Thank you, Dr. Box. And now way have Dr Wrong lady who I think is going to be joining you for a pleasant. So, Hiram, how are you? Chris, How are you? How are you? Very good, Thank you. Thanks for joining us. As you all may remember, Doctor, you're Letty from as we call him, is not only a friend and a colleague of mine, but also the president for the medical staff, for all of community hospitals. He joined us last when we announced our first cove it 19 death in the state of Indiana. Which was a very sad time for all of us. And today we're having blood. We are very blessed to have him join us as he can talk about not just being leading ah hospital system in their preparation for this expected expected surge of covert 19 patients but also in how he himself as a patient has navigated the waters of being Cove in 19 infected and then being a caretaker for his wife and ERA, who, unfortunately, got infected afterwards. Most importantly, wrong. I want to ask you, How are you feeling? It's been over three weeks, so I'm only getting kind of back little bit back tomorrow. Still have a lingering cough? Times two promised about, but definitely much, much better. That's awesome. Talk to us a little bit about how it was emotionally to make that transition from being on the front lines every day and taking care of patients with covert 19 leading your medical staff toe all of a sudden knowing what you had a sore throat or a cough. What was that like emotionally to make that transition and to get that test results back? Yeah, I mean, I remember this very big birthday to your point, Chris 11 evening on a Sunday night, my throat started feeling kind of scratching, itchy, and I just knew too much, and I knew this was not normal. So, um, we need that night and I wanted myself rest of the family. I got tested next day and the following day. It was awesome. It was actually, it was a little more terrifying. Expected, right? So you've experienced firsthand what so many people around the state have feared and other individuals who have been told that their cove in 19 or positive what they've experienced and felt themselves. I'm sure that you tried your very best to try to isolate yourself within your home. Can you talk a little bit? About what? That involved? Yeah, it was Be honest with me. So it's a lot of my bedroom. I don't like president. My kids would knock on the door twice a day, leave the food and run away with the door, get my food. Was baby locked up for a couple weeks with mustard and sadly, even when I did that was so talk a little bit about being sick. How awful was it compared to influence or something that I'm sure you've probably had in the past? Your first action was fine, really Just had a sore throat and mouth off really was doing pretty well. So I actually thought beyond those mildly symptomatic, another to worry about just kind of cruise on. But, you know, like you, we have long days, you know, with meetings all day long, and I started realized starting more fatigue. I had to take several maps with daytime was just very enlightened. So Richard T was much more than expected on then. Finally, it takes a lot longer to get better, even today. Still have to slight cough run over three weeks after the initial infection. Do you feel like your lung function is back to normal? Do you feel like you're back to your old healthy self? Oh, pretty much I mean 90% maybe 100% gesture, but very close. That's that's awesome. So talk a little bit about the fact that your wife and era ended up getting sick and you know so many of our our first responders and our health care workers fear every day taking this home to their family, right? That's their worst nightmare. Talk a little bit about that. Yeah, you're right. Questions that was the worst part of all this is is my wife and your, uh she was feeling having some mild muscle aches and pains for a few days, and I thought she was gonna be okay. And then, you know, a couple days after the one day, she just just don't get nauseated. And then she had this look on her just, unfortunately, kind of best here. So we just rushed her to the hospital and found her saturation were much less than warm. So's That was a very terrifying experience for all those reasons, not the least of which is worried that I made stock my wife Bill, right. That's, um, courageous thing to have to experience. And that guilt from that, I'm sure, is very difficult. And she was admitted in the hospital for for a while. Yeah. Yeah. So, again, unfortunately from both sides of the soy, I know I know what happens. So, for chest X ray, when she came in, I saw didn't look good. Everything was 10 hours they were following was worse chest X rays worser than she was invented. Ice to you. She's one of those 6% of people that was in the ice deal, you know, Luckily, we respectable way we can. There was an investigational drug that's used for gamatoria disease for other patients that's already out there. So we tried that. The doctor said, There's a list to it. They may get blood clots, what he wants to do, and we just we just had to do whatever we can. And luckily, she came out of the ice to You could come home. But it was It was It was a very difficult time and she's been home for a few days now are we could hope for about a week on oxygen, and today she's actually almost all possible. So she's actually, it's tremendous. I feel very grateful, very less than, and I just want to polish. There's there's hundreds of people praying for her. I think that goes a long, long way. Faith and hope and prayer. During these times, I just can't stress. I think that's so important from Thank you for recognizing that I know I was praying for Indira and for you when I found out that you were sick and and your CEO, I think our hospital system has really faced that rum I wanted to ask about one other thing. Dr. Kaufman and I got a question the other day about the number of individuals that are dying at home from heart attacks and other things that we might normally have seen in the emergency room or E. M s might have been called about and picked up. And I know you're a cardiologists don't know that this has got to be very dear to your heart in many in many respects. So just talk a little bit about that because I really want to alleviate the fair's fears that people have about going to the hospital and getting care for other medical conditions. I think the tragedy would be here that if we lose more people that weren't infected with covert 19 for that reason, that's a very, very important point. Chris, I can't stress that enough. We actually just had a a quality committee meeting yesterday, talked about the same thing by appears. Exactly what you're saying is that there's a lot of people were told. Just stay calm and don't talkto, don't do anything and what that means that they're not talking with the doctors, and I think it's very important. Recognize that Cove in 19 is this year's condition. Growing virus is very contagious, no question about it. But we still need to take care of ourselves. And I think one thing people must remember is that the emergency room and your doctors are always available 24 7 So if you're not sure about something, give them a call. They would always pick up the phone for you will always take care. And and I don't want people to think Well, I'm going to be okay. I'm just gonna ride out. I think it's indigestion. Wait for another hours like that. Just a tendency is they don't want to get going to the first room. I could reassure you that all the most rooms in the city in our state actually have done very well taking understanding that there's a covert stations are not included. So you should feel very comfortable going to a hospital for sick. We will not get sick from over. We've done everything well beyond 10 steps to make sure that doesn't happen. But I can't stress that enough for that. This is gonna be around for a long time to come and My biggest worry is that we're going to see a lot of people not seeking medical care preserve afraid of the virus, all right. And I think that goes for covert 19 patients to write. You sound like you were a little surprised when you took Indira in that her oxygen saturation is were lower than you expected. So talk a little bit about covert 19 patients, and the need to reach out when they do need that help before these meetings and other communications is that you should stay home to your symptoms, get severe. Luckily, I could tell when Indira was getting sick, but But if I wasn't position, may not have been able to sew spearing report for anybody. Always call your doctor or just called the Mercer. If you're not sure what to do, you're not alone. Call the members from saying, I'm coming on in. So I did that. They broke up. They came. They took my wife. I knew I was positive. They came. They saw they had beer on. We took her in and then right away. Statue. Is that what he said? Wait. Very important that we are here to take your call the restaurant, Call your doctor, but we can protect you and protect themselves. But the reason we are here is to take our each and everyone of citizens of the state. That's awesome. From what? What else have I not ask you about that you want to share today? What? What's on your heart? They don't just, You know, one thing you always were kind of hoping for is that you know, this this quarantine is just is very hard on all of us. Emotionally, we're hoping when we're gonna see the light of day to get out of the house. And I think we just need to understand that we will get there soon. But also, there is not way don't want to confuse ourselves instead of going back to normal pre coat. There's no such thing as going back to Rico. This is the new normal now, So just need to understand that as we move forward, let's continue to take care of ourselves. Let's continue where master go outside. Let's continue to just need to be really be a hyper aware that doesn't have to remain isolated, but followed the dinos that you ended up giving you will get better, but let's not assume that things will be like they were before, because that's just not gonna be the case. So always very, um, ask. Wash your hands and don't touch your face very well, said Ron. Can you stick around for a little bit in case they have questions? That's what I know you. Thank you, Ron. Thank you, Dr Box. I also want to pass out a few more Thank you's. Tomorrow will be the National Line Worker Appreciation Day, as it is every year at this time. These are the folks the men and women who go out and do often very hazardous work to make sure that our lights are on. Or maybe in this case, our televisions are on. But this year, obviously, they've joined the list of essential workers critically important. And when you couple the recent storms that were barreling through a lot of Indiana just last week, they were called out in tow. It is some difficult situations, along with our homeland security, the personnel to make sure that folks were back online. This is, you know, we've got to make sure our hospitals and our groceries and are all the homes that are nursing homes, et cetera, that are dependent to stay online or online. And these These folks were heroic last week, but there they are, really stepping up to the plate. Knock it out the park. Secondly, we have worked. This was brought up in the Q and a yesterday. How we're getting our message out. Are we communicating with With Hoosiers all over, the state of Indiana will continue to look for ways to do just that. We want to make sure that we're not just communicating but connecting with every Hoosier with the latest updates. And while you see different members of the task force, I'm here every day. They they're different, and you may hear from 11 day and not someone the next day. The one individual that you see in here from almost every day is Andy Rourke, that the gentleman on my left hand corner, if you're watching on Guy, just wanted think, Andy. It may be a little uncomfortable anything for you to be talking about yourself right now, but right back at you, he has done Yeoman's work every single day to make sure that we're not just communicating the connecting with folks with the information that they need to live safely through the day. And so special Shoutout Thio Andy Also, What I mentioned earlier in the week was that the extension of our next executive order will will be on Monday And I've just preferred to give some folks and heads up going into the weekend about what we're thinking. The numbers you always hear from Dr Box First, which kind of sets the stage. I did wanna also say thank you to all the Hoosiers who really took the heart, what we've been asking folks to do in the 99.99% of users are stepping up and playing by the rules or with the program. They understand this is not about me. This is about all of us on and we're in it together. We're gonna get through it together and of the more folks who were with the program means that we get through it more efficiently and safely. And so that means you've stayed home and then hunker down. And that means you stayed healthy. To the extent that you have control over, it means you've stayed connected with all the information, and we're just very, very appreciative. We've been hard at work, this whole task force and Theis Extraordinary Hospital Network system that we have here in the state of Indiana to make sure that we've not just access but also develops supply lines in terms of p p e. That personal protective equipment throughout the whole state of Indiana. We made a lot of progress on that front, as have other states around the country. But that is not deter anyone who is also pitching in those sewing groups in Boone County, Indiana, that air supplying their local grocery store or their hospital. We still need you to do that. We're just I just underscore this to say that I weren't a different position now than we were just weeks ago. Still have a lot of days ahead, and we'll continue to dial up and make orders where we see fit. But hospitals will continue to have their supply change intact. Will, as a state, continue to build up our strategic state supply a CZ. The days go forward and we've been operating in very responsible to week increments in terms of these executive orders, so that that allows us to appropriately adjust or accommodate these facts on the ground as they come into our portal. That phase, as was just mentioned by Dr You Letty. I know it makes all of us anxious and started crazy at times, and we get cabin fever. It's very understandable, Um, but we're making progress because of it, and we don't want a prematurely change what we're doing just to hope for a different result. It is working, having said that, having said that, our containment policies and our capacity issues, the management of them has put us in a position to where we're now in the phase where we're planning on a safe re open concerning different sectors of our economy. That's why yesterday I mentioned that we sent out communication to various associations soliciting their input. We've asked them to return that input by the 22nd of April, which would be Wednesday next week. Fairly quick turnaround. But a lot of companies talk to some earlier this morning, have already started in anticipation for this phase, put together plans in place for a safe re open, and so we've reached out to our manufacturers are realtors are retailers are restaurant tours, tourism small from small business to the largest businesses, largest employers We have in the state of Indiana toe legislators to mayors to all the local officials. Because again, we're in this together soliciting their ideas for these safe openings. Understanding that state of Indiana is 92 counties get 10 different health districts and region, so to speak, and we will continue to manage it in that. In that way, on Monday, I will be extending the executive order that hunger down Hoosiers order to May 1st, and so we've shortened. We've shortened the duration. That's not to say that we're gonna pull up immediately after that. It just means it's going to allow us to make some changes or some tweaks. Some accommodations, as we see appropriate around the state of Indiana as an example, will continue to work with our the Indiana Hospital Association for a guy in a staged way with their members in terms of elective procedures, because we have a handle and a large part of our state on the P. P e inventory, and so that would be an example. In addition to the short duration, um, of the executive order. Also, items like elective procedures will change just a bit, opening up and again. I just want to say there is a lot of war that needs to be done between now and May 1st between now and April 22nd and then may 1st. And then there will be after that, a cz well, but this is going to allow us to make sure that we're all on the same page as a state in this together one Indiana monitoring our positive case numbers day by day, where they're where they're coming from. Maintaining our supply pipelines and levels. Continuing the testing, um, in different ways in different places. Making sure that we're building out our contact tracing program. And then, of course, reviewing our business sectors. Ideas for how they will safely reopen for their own sake, for the employees saying obviously and for the customers. And I'm really encouraged by what we've already seen from folks who have been sending in their plans. How much thought that is going into this, not not or, I should say, rather moving away from the who does business to how we do business and win as they come online, including your own state government. And so we're holding ourselves accountable to this as well. And we've got every agency out, um, putting together their plan for for reentry reentry as well. So, again, I wanna stress I mentioned We'll get right to the questions here, but I mentioned also yesterday that we rightfully reached out to our neighboring states, even beyond that, into the Great Lakes region and wanted to make a point that we would be working with our neighbors. We did not want to surprise anyone. We share borders, and you could just imagine we've got hospitals right on the border of large population centers. We've got retailers right on the borders of on the other side of the river. Up phoned the Great Lakes, um, region. And you can imagine if we do something before or after or at the same time simultaneously that cause and effect that it would have. That's not to suggest that we are anchored to or on everyone else's timeline. It just means we're being good neighbors, and we're gonna share the information about where we are and how we'll manage inside of our state and move forward together. as a state and as a nation. And with that Rachel, we're happy, too. Take any question that's on everyone's mind. Eric Berman W I T c Good Afternoon, Aaron. Afternoon governor. Happy Friday. A couple of questions about what tweaks might be made to the executive order. You indicated earlier in the week that there would be some changes in this version. If I understand correctly the consultation about elective procedures that's coming up on the next revision, what's going to be different about this room? From what we've seen and specifically at whatever point we get to re opening restaurants and bars for sit down service, Yes, we'll get there. Well, I have a specific question about that. Not when's it gonna happen. The guidance from the White House suggested that bars should stay. Quote was expecting people. What's the rationale for that? Distinction is that distinction. You expect to make a state level feel free to chime in here, But I've got I've got the recommendations from the White House. We did. As I mentioned yesterday. I joined that call with the president, the vice president, his whole entire task force team. I was 30 minutes tardy but I was here. I had a good excuse. They knew that, um and and they have supplied us with their guidance. And as you mentioned Eric, it is that it is guidance and it is reasoned and sound and thoughtful. A lot of work is going into their national recommendations on how to approach this. Obviously they they contemplated that different regions of the country were in different phases or stages of this pandemic, and they also contemplate. Most importantly, we don't want to do one of the workers. Things that could happen is if we get this resurgence. So you have to prevent putting yourself into a position where there is a resurgence of Corbett 19. You talk about the hit that would take to the American psyche, and so we're gonna be very responsible, very methodical. I mentioned that we're gonna work with our Indian Hospital Association to make sure that we're in touch at the street level with the supply levels of P p E. That maybe in high demand we talked about While he may talkto one region of the state, I'm pointing toward southwestern Indiana right now that is in solid shape. There are other parts of the state where if they heard me say that we're good, we don't need any more peopIe. They would say, Eric, you know, I would get a call very soon and they would remind me about the need. And that's why I said at the very outset that we need folks who are firing up those three D printers and helping us make face shields. The Department of Corrections. Who's helping us make gowns, The sewing groups that are all over the state of Indiana Berry plastics down in Evans. Then I could just go on and on and on about the, um, all the contributions that folks are making. So, to answer your question ery that's what this time between today, the 17th of April and May 1, it's exactly what we're reviewing. All all of the ideas across the state of Indiana that would lead to some changes. I just alluded to a couple of them. One is that we're shortening the time frame because we know of the progress that we're making in some areas and some things that we can do. But But we'll we'll take this approach in an ongoing fashion so the only thing I'd add to that Erica's. I think there's a little bit of difference with a restaurant that can separate their tables and have individuals sit down as a family. A lot of times are very close knit friends versus a bar, which I don't spend a lot of time in them anymore. But I can remember a lot of, you know, a person to person, very close contact and, ah, lot of enjoyment going on, but not necessarily a lot of social distancing. So I think that may be a part of what the concern is. Steve KPC, media Good afternoon, Steve. Good afternoon, Governor. I wanted to start off by thanking Dr Box for the great statistics that we got today. Very happy to see those. But today my question will be for commissioner pain. If he's around there with you, he's making his way up. Steve, you could take a little credit for that for that information that's incorporated the to the slide show. Thanks for your little doctor box with a lot of questions, but they're very different direction today, So I wanted to ask Today we got the state's employment report for March which reported a March unemployment rate of 3.2%. Please don't take this the wrong way. But I laughed at that, knowing that that was not a complete number. And it looked like that was only through March 12. Really, Before we got into the bulk of the cove, it impact here. So I wanted to just just ask, Is that is that typical? Um, do we have numbers that look at a full month? Do we have an idea of what the true march unemployment rate is when we get our, you know, more detailed county level report on Monday? Should we expect a full month or should we just expect this snapshot? Those are good questions, Steven. Thanks for asking. The monthly on of the monthly employment report is a coordinated effort throughout the nation. All of the states and our federal government. We have a specific time frame in which we report numbers. Those that timeframe covers the week. That includes the 12th day of the month. So you're really looking from midway from want Tomas? So for March that week actually ended right before we started seeing a surge in our unemployment claims. So If you look at the week ending March 14th Fewer call. We may have had about 2500 claims filed that week, but then the following week was when we saw the huge surge. So that number on Lee captures the week before doesn't fully capture what's actually happened the second half of the month. And if you look around the nation, you'll see that the unemployment rate on Lee jumped slightly for some states. Some jumped a little bit more than Indiana because they started seeing unemployment claims filed probably a week before, like Ohio. In some instances, I think Kentucky and to some small degree Illinois. So what we'll see in the next month's report will be more reflective of what's happening now because it will cover the second part of March and actually the first few weeks in April. And that's also one of the reasons why on Thursday we report our unemployment claims numbers on a week to week basis because that's actually more reflective of what's happening now for a human, your staff Herculean effort, pulling all nighter, obviously to get position for today, and I threw out a figure there and it was 200 million. That kind of probably zoomed right by some folks you want to talk about come Monday. You want to talk about all the work that's going on, how fast you've turned and burned to get this the from the federal help that we received out the door into people's think accounts? Sure, yes, government. So the governor is referring really to the pandemic, unemployment compensation and the additional benefits that we've really worked right right around the clock to make sure that we're delivering. If you recall, we received guidance sometime late March on how to apply and how to implement those programs. And we quickly turned around within about a two week time period. Ah, new Well, actually update to our system to make sure that we're providing those payments for the additional $600 week under the pandemic unemployment compensation. So last night, we had anticipated the coupling system to be offline for about three hours. It was actually off line for probably about an hour and 1/2 so we were a little bit ahead of schedule on that. And so payments started dropping. Today we had some to start dropped today, but then we have in the queue of payments to start dropping on Monday somewhere to the tune of about $200 million in ah payments of those $600 increments. Keep in mind those payments are retroactive. That encompasses people who have already far claims from March 28th or the week ending April 4th. Thanks, thanks to your team for operating into speed of the need. Corey Williams, the Associated Press Good afternoon, Corey. Good afternoon. You hear me? I can. All right. I have a quick one for you. I'm calling from Michigan. We're doing a double team state thing on you guys here. If you guys are able in, some of the other states are able to a rollout. Are you envisioning weeks or months? Some people are thinking that maybe they'll that work in early June. But cause conceivably could take into the deep summer for everyone if they're able to get back to work. Gets back to work. Well, that remains to be seen by the numbers as they come in. And do our mitigation efforts continue to work? Are we continuing to make progress? Where's that progress occurring? That's that's why I was trying to be clear about the fact that we're going to continue to work with our our neighbors to make sure they know what we're doing, so that our action, we understand, could have a reaction or an equal or greater reaction from someone across the border we want. We want our neighbors to know what we're doing, but we're not going to say this will. We don't know. We don't buy the tells you some dates specific too weak or one month or two months and and how that plays out into all the different sectors of your economy, whether it's schools or UM state government or the private sector of the philanthropic community. This is all going the way we do. Business will be different. What we know will will be a prerequisite is that it will have to be done safely and when it's safe to do business and so will continue to work with the the governor Whitmer and will continue to work with Governor Pritzker and then you work with Governor Bashir and Governor wine and further out from that so that they know how our region, all the pieces that snap together of this puzzle are functioning and the progress that we're making and will continue to. If we see you know someone else, have a good idea. We'll look to implement it here as well. We won't dither. Care to add anything about the regional approach? Jeff Smith, W l A High. Hello, Jeff. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Governor. Dr Box. Like, I think this is probably more for you. And I hope it's a no. News is good news situation, but in all the discussion about long term care facilities And in fact, I think since we've been discussing Cove with you, there has never been any mention of the Indian a veteran's home here in. Can you give us a snapshot of what that looks like in terms of patients and staff members? Um, off the top of my head. I don't have that again. We're only gonna give aggregate data, but I do know that we went in there early on. I think we tested some individuals and really worked with them to make sure that they had the p p e. They needed to protect all their residents there and talked about their infection control procedures. And so Yes, I it's not. Come on my radar. So I think that is a no. No news is good news. Dan Klein. Wish TV. Good afternoon, Dan. I hate to be the negative, Nancy, but I think a lot of people are worried, uh, in the aspect of I think we can go through this once, you know, But four months from now, six months from now, when obviously no one can see the future. But when there are more cases, maybe coming together when it's school's back in session in the fall. Um, do you think this is gonna be a recurring thing or what types of things can we be can be done to keep this from being a more than just a one time thing? Well, there's a lot of good news, and I understand the anxiety or folks being nervous. This is a pandemic, by definition, at global occurrence that came washing upon our shores in a very swift manner. And fortunately we were nimble enough and collected and organized to where we came together equally fast. And a lot of credit goes to our first line responders, Whether it's the M s or police or the hospital system at large across our whole state of Indiana to be able to accommodate that first rush and that serves everything that we've been doing is designed to try to mitigate that that surge and to date. You know, I'm not celebrating, but we've kind of flatten that curve. We've kind of drawn it out so we can, as a state handle coverted 19 haven't said that with every death is reported with every you just heard from Dr Rami Letty, who really knocked him down for weeks on end and his wife. When this hits, it hits hard and drains. A lot of resource is that our goal in this all has been able to get in it and then get out of it responsibly, safely as fast as we can and be able to handle anything that could washed back up onshore. It's You know, the good news is, and please add where I'm deficient here. But I mean our health, our you know, our local health offices in conjunction with your partnership. Obviously, in the state and our hospital system, we were gonna be in a much better place after this ordeal. Then we were before, we just maybe didn't know what we didn't know what. The point is that if we do see another wave of this in the fallen again, remember, this is the novel Corona virus. We don't know exactly what it's going to do. We can't predict it. Certainly there's a thought process that we could see a wave of this again in the fall, and we're not expecting the vaccine to even become available till the fourth quarter here, so we won't have a lot of people that are immunized. But what we will have is better taste testing capabilities. We can test people, we can isolate and quarantine people, and we can make sure that we're able to stay. On top of that will have the P p E that we need to be able to provide for our front line, E. M s and other individuals are hospitals will have time to kind of recuperate and get back on their feet and have more of their personal protective equipment. So if it comes will be ready for it. And at that point in time, we'll have to see what's happening and keep track through contact tracing of the number of cases that we have an increased testing and so will know what we need to do at that time. Matt with w f i U. Hello, man. Good afternoon, Governor. My first question is for you, and the 2nd 1 is for Dr Box. Do you plan to? Are you considering to designate grocery store workers as first responders? And Dr Box? Some counties are reporting testing anyone with symptoms and others have very limited testing. Is the Department of Health planning to make any statewide testing protocol for who gets tested and win? We have not to date way have prioritized them as essential workers. And so there are some benefits to that in terms of child care and how we treat them as essential workers. Uh, you want to take the second part of his question? Sure. So to date, there's no specific plan about testing in every single county, But I can tell you that we have been doing Dr Fu's will be doing more drive throughs. We shortly will be receiving the cassettes for Abbott testing, so we'll be able to place those in some of our more rural areas so that we can have her that quicker turnaround time. I did just receive or will be receiving. I got noticed 100,000 swabs, so, like that's the best Christmas present that I've had in many, many years. So So I think from that standpoint, it's it's really looking up. What I want everyone to know now is if you are seeing somebody who is symptomatic and you suspect they have Cove in 19 test them, it's fine. Test them. You consent to a lab core. You can send a quest. You consent to me if you're concerned that we need a quicker turnaround time, and we can get it done through lily through I you health or some of our other local labs. So it's wide open. If individuals are symptomatic in the healthcare, personnel thinks that that individual has covered 19. Please test. When's your dhoti? The Indianapolis Business Journal Good afternoon, Lindsay. Governor, I know we don't know when this, but when this happens, which type of workers do you think will be among the first wave of those who can go back to work? Are you thinking it's people who work in traditional offices or manufacturing employees or some other sector. Well, I'm not trying to hide the ball, Lindsey, honestly, but that's exactly what we're doing. Going through every sector. That's why we sent out about a letter to about 17 different associations because we didn't want to act like way had all the answers right now if they were seeing something, if they wanted to share how they would be able to safely conduct business, I don't want a discount. Obviously, the folks who were running their businesses, they know how to act safely. So you'll have to wait until you'll have to wait until Monday. And then until May 1st, as we start to very methodically pull more and more folks back on line. Cassie with white water publications. Oh, Cassie. Hello? Can you hear me? Crystal clear. All right. Great. So I have two questions as well. My 1st 1 is for you, Governor. I'm curious about you were talking a little bit about I'm reaching out to individual sectors and gathering their plans of what they think they could do to kind of in their own area. We're owned business, get their economy going again. A cz faras tourism. I know for our end of the county. That is a big thing where we try to bring people in, and right now we're kind of trying to pull them out. When you think about those guidelines moving forward, do you see that as like a specific, um, kind of manual guideline that you would hand out to tourism's around the state? That says, You know, these were kind of the things that we think are safe, that we could start doing or allowing people back into our community? Or do you think it will be left more up thio each county in each sector to kind of make those decisions with approved a little bit of both? I mean, we want we want their input, were sincere about that, and coming from a state like Indiana, where tourism, you know, the lieutenant governor heads this and, um, heads this sector in this this industry effort up, understanding how important our tourism and our convention business is, um, understanding the size and scope of events that we host here in the state of Indiana were equally concerned that we're able to do that safely. It may look differently. It may look different in different sports and leagues themselves, they're already starting to weigh in. So if you're talking about racing, how are how is any car different? The NASCAR If you're talking about basketball, if you're talking about horse racing, if you're talking about you know it's an endless list, so we will obviously provide some guidance because of those, the density of the crowds that come and then also you have to layer on top of that. The timeline. Where are we always? What are the numbers? What are the what is the science telling us that we would It would be okay to move forward on. And so it's not a one size fits all. One place fits all approach a CZ. We move forward, whether it's in tourism or in any other sector in our state agriculture, manufacturing, key sectors of our state and size of the business. Some, some just as an example. Some businesses are telling us that they are prepared now when they come back online to provide masks for their employees or to take their temperature of their employer employees twice a day. There's just some examples of that kind of close interaction business that will occur so How do we do that? That's why the not the who, but the how in the wind are just so important into making these decisions. Nikki Kelly, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. Good afternoon, Nikki, can you? I was wondering if there was a lot of discussion yesterday in the White House recommendations about seeing 14 days worth of drops and cases, that kind of thing. We've seen large spy pes in the last couple days. So why are we talking so much about reopening when cases go up spot on So a part of that Nikki's? Because we're testing more people. And that's the hard part to to really look at what we have to look at to his number of people admitted to the hospital number of E. M s runs that we have for people that have these type of flu like or respiratory symptoms, um, are ventilator usage. There's a lot of other key factors deaths, even that we can look at to gauge where we are in this. But But you're right. We as we want to increase testing and we do increased testing, we will find more positive cases, and that's certainly something that it seems contrary. And where are those cases also important? Russ McQuaid, Box 59 Good afternoon, Russ. And good afternoon, donor. Uh, following up on the testing question for Dr Box guarding White House task force guidelines for tracing and testing. When do you estimate Indiana will be able to respond to those White House task force guidelines, for instance, testing, tracing for those with the symptoms or folks who are asymptomatic. So all of that in some way, shape or form is going on right now. We are already testing a symptomatic individuals and are most at risk populations. So oftentimes in our prisons, in our long term care facilities and our residential facilities and another congregate living living facilities testing a symptomatic individuals that are just walking around the street, we haven't done a lot of that testing yet. Testing symptomatic individuals is wide open right now. I hope everybody's doing that. I think that's totally appropriate as faras contact tracing. We are along with our local health departments, which are absolutely critical in this. They're really the boots on the ground, and they are tracing these these contacts of these individuals and telling them to quarantine. If they've been exposed, telling them, tow, isolate. If they're positive, that ability tohave that rapid turnaround test. Maybe even that quick test, Or that 2 to 3 day test. So you're sick, you go home. You've got to be home anyway because you're sick. But in two days or three days, we have back. Whether that was Cove in 19 is getting there in almost all of our regions across the state. But we really need to work, especially in some of our rural areas, to help with that. Jody Kaufman W R B I Hello, Jody. Good afternoon, Governor. Thank you for taking my question. I have to you again. My first question is, as you extend the restrictions on Monday, while there's a chance you'll be allowing county governments to override travel status is back to read if they deem it necessary. The second question is where Rural area and in June is when we start fair seasons in some area. Should our local fair boards be looking at creative plans on howto handle for each fares this year, because large crowds will still be restricted starting in June and possibly through July? Well, it's never too early to start planning ahead, just like planting a crop. I mean, what we do now is going to matter in two weeks in two months. And so having those plans in place, whether it's, you know, scenario A, B and C best case scenario off, maybe the more realistic or worst case scenario, I have those plans in place right now, pulling in everyone in your local community and getting their input right now that's going to help us make decisions as well. We've put a heavy emphasis on working with locals throughout this whole ordeal, and so we we do value that input. And if something happens, you know, Brown County was experiencing a lot of traffic being funneled into their beautiful park, and we heard from them and said, Okay, this is not what we intended. We did not want our campgrounds backed up and packed. That was counter to the hole premise of this exercise and eso. We made adjustments and so we'll continue to do that and we'll continue going up to May 1st and thereafter. Lauren Chapman, Indiana Public Broadcasting Hello, Lauren. Good afternoon. I have two questions. The 1st 1 for commissioner pain in the 2nd 1 for you. Okay, The one for you. Well, Commissioner Pink. It's up with the success of social distancing measures in the anticipation of a curtain of a surge in the rest of the state in early May. Is it really, in the interest of public health to even slowly start three open businesses? Since those numbers seem to kind of coincide with one another, you want to actually take the numbers? So remember, the models are just that they're models, and they predict a surge. When we look at our day by day and our hospitalizations and R I C. U beds being more open and our ventilators being more open, we're really looking at curves that in many parts of our state are starting to plateau or flatten. And we may even be seeing some go down, which is very optimistic. So that is the kind of things that make us feel like we can start to think along these lines. Once again, we still have a lot of individuals in prisons and in long term care facilities that are ill, and they will we know a certain percentage maybe 20% or so to 25 which is on the sides today, end up in the hospital. So we we can't take that lightly. And I think one thing we haven't said with all of this is that as we opened things up and do more things, it may be about the individuals that are at higher risk until we can get to that immunization to that vaccine. As much as I hate to say it that we may need to continue to protect them and continue toe, have them avoid these large crowds and these settings where we know they're most likely toe to become ill. I went to you because you looked like you had something on your mind and you obviously did. And, uh, and I would just add very quickly and we get to Fred. Um, it is responsible. I mentioned at the outset that we were in a planning phase. This is a planning phase, and what we don't want to do is end up on the 22nd or may 1st or any day thereafter, and wish we would have done a lot of work to to position ourselves to loosen up in an area that is safe. But We're not flying blind here. We are reporting the data on a daily basis, and this is what will guide us. Fred. Uh, the question I had for Commissioner Pain Waas is there a target date for adding the additional 13 weeks of unemployment benefits under the EU EEC provisions of the CARE Act? Good question. We actually just receive the guidance on last week on that, and the team is working on it, but we have not established a ah set day for when we'll roll that out. Our final question is from Warren with W T h R. Hello, Lauren. Governor, my question is probably for you, Dr Box or you as well, Governor. Well, we've had some expansion of testing this week. What will it take to get to this needed level of testing? Will this mean more federal health or time from other sources or more supplies? Or will labs have to be upgraded? No, I think that our major labs like Quest and M a. C. L A lab core. All of these labs are up and running. We still rely for that rapid turnaround time with lily and I you health and and some of our more homegrown or local labs. But it's really about getting people back in to see their healthcare providers back into their federally qualified health clinics, their community health clinics being seen for these type of symptoms and being tested. And I think that's really where we are right now is we need to start testing more individuals out there and and that will be through our health care systems. Thank you for joining, too.

SIGN UP FOR BREAKING NEWS Get local stories sent straight to your inbox as news breaks. Submit Privacy Notice