On the one-year anniversary of the state’s public health emergency, Gov. Eric Holcomb announced a plan to expand vaccine eligibility to all Hoosiers age 16 and older, and lift the mask mandate and remaining restrictions on businesses.
The state’s mask mandate will become a mask advisory April 6. Just days before, on March 31, all Hoosiers age 16 and older will become eligible for a vaccine.
Local officials would still have the authority to impose tougher restrictions in response to COVID-19 cases in their communities and mask use would still be required in K-12 schools for rest of this school year, Holcomb said.
He encouraged residents to continue wearing masks in public and that bars and restaurants continue to space out their tables. He asked residents to respect rules adopted by businesses and others.
“Whether that is a bank branch lobby, on the factory floor or a county courthouse or city hall, they retain the authority to make decisions about COVID restrictions for their operations and should be afforded the respect, compliance and understanding of all who visit them,” Holcomb said. “When I visit my favorite restaurants or conduct a public event, I will continue to appropriately wear a mask, it’s the right thing to do.”
He said masks will continue to be required in state buildings and at COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites.
Holcomb plans to extend his public health emergency order, set to expire at the end of the month, for 30 more days, so the state can take quick action if needed and remain eligible for federal funding to help fight the ongoing pandemic, he said.
Health experts said staying the course with the mask mandate would have been best and encouraged residents to continue doing their part to slow the spread, despite the change in requirements.
A complete and maskless return to normal is premature, said Dr. David Dunkle, Johnson Memorial Health’s president and CEO. Relaxing precautions in the fall and winter played into Indiana’s surge of cases and deaths from late September to January, he said.
“I’m all for getting back to life as normal. But as a physician, I am more cautious,” Dunkle said. “One of our biggest problems was we were not heeding those warnings. I am concerned that we are going down a path of ignoring sound medical advice.”
Dr. Richard Feldman, who was state health commissioner under Democratic Gov. Frank O’Bannon, echoed Dunkle’s sentiment, saying he was concerned Holcomb was reacting to pressure to more fully reopen the state’s economy.
“From a public health and physician standpoint, I really believe that we are not ready to open up fully,” Feldman said. “We’re not ready to give up on or discontinue the mitigation strategies of distancing, hand washing — and most of all, masks. I don’t think we’re ready for that. There’s not enough of our population that has been immunized.”
There is also concern among health experts that many will not follow Holcomb’s advice to continue to wear a mask when it is no longer required.
“We put a lot of restrictions in place last year, there was some initial hesitation by some parts of the population to comply with some of those orders,” said Brian Dixon, an epidemiologist at Indiana University’s Fairbanks School of Public Health. “And then what we saw in the fall is that rates went up, they skyrocketed because people were not following precautions.”
Indiana’s coronavirus hospitalizations and death rates have fallen by more than 80% since their December peaks.
Indiana still averages about 10 coronavirus-related deaths per day and has recorded nearly 13,000 coronavirus deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. Those deaths resulted in a 16% increase in statewide deaths in 2020 over the year before.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that even individuals who are fully vaccinated wear a mask while in public, though they may remove that mask for small gatherings with loved ones.
Some businesses and local governments may continue to require masks. So far, big box stores such as Target and Walmart have continued to require customers to wear masks while shopping in stores in states without a mask mandate.
Even as more vaccines go into arms, Holcomb urged Hoosiers to continue to wear a mask. Holcomb, personally, will wear a mask at public events because it “is the right thing to do,” he said.
The state will expand vaccine eligibility on March 31, when significantly more vaccines are expected to become available, Holcomb said. The state will plan more mass vaccination clinics, more mobile clinics and launch employer-based vaccination initiatives to get Hoosiers vaccinated more quickly, he said.
The infrastructure in place for vaccine distribution is adequate, but vaccinations at that scale could be delayed for many, said Dr. Craig Moorman, Johnson County’s health officer.
Though it might be slow-going, opening the shot to all will give a dose of hope to younger Hoosiers, Dunkle said. Having an appointment on the books will give young people the freedom to plan safe vacations and clear their schedule for the vaccine, he said.
Right now, with eligibility restricted to Hoosiers 40 and older, educators, first responders and health care workers, vaccine appointments are fully booked each day at local clinics.
Eligible residents have reported difficulty in scheduling a shot and sought out clinics with more open availability outside the county. Conversely, some residents have turned to Johnson County when they could not find a shot elsewhere, Moorman said.
It might take longer to get a shot with widespread eligibility, but the wait will be less risky for younger Hoosiers than it would have been to make seniors wait longer, he said.
“I think the more people who are trying the more difficult it (will) be. Doing it in stages has helped eliminate some of the gridlocks,” Moorman said.
The county-run clinic, a partnership between the Johnson County Health Department and Johnson Memorial Health, is at capacity, but Moorman hopes to offer more doses beginning in April when the health department starts giving vaccines at Compass Park, he said.
With a shot for all on the horizon and more doses coming, local health officials are optimistic about the future but hope residents will keep taking precautions.
“We are so close. We are on the cusp of really having things much more in check than we ever have,” Dunkle said. “I don’t want to see us letting our guard down too soon.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
