Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box presented her concerns over the increase of COVID-19 cases in the past month.
During Governor Eric Holcomb’s press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Dr. Box noted the state’s positivity rate is over seven percent.
“Hospital admissions also have increased significantly,” said Dr. Box. “The number of people hospitalized for COVID yesterday was 1,679 which is the highest that we have seen to date. We continue to see more than 100 people a day being admitted with symptoms of COVID. We’re talking to our hospitals, our preparedness districts, and individual counties regularly to identify their concerns and see what we can provide to them in the form of help.”
Locally, the positivity rate is higher.
Dr. Box also said more testing is being done.
“In the early days of the pandemic, our capacity for testing was measured in the hundreds each day, not in the tens of thousands we are seeing regularly today. Our local health department sites have done more than 59,000 tests since September 1st and our Optum sites are closing in on 400,000 tests. This is a dramatic improvement from where we were in April when testing was still very limited,” commented Dr. Box.
Dr. Box is still encouraging cooperation with contact tracers.
She said, “We are seeing an increasing number of people who are just like ‘not going to help you’, ‘not going to give you information’, ‘not going to quarantine’, ‘not going to isolate’, ‘we’re just not going to do it’. I think they’re tired of it. I think they’re over it. We also hear that people don’t want to get their family members tested because they’re worried that if that individual comes back positive then the older brother who may be is the quarterback of the football team, or the sister is on the swim team, or mom or dad can’t go to their job, which is critical in their life, and I understand that, but it is worth it. It is a part of what we can do as Hoosiers to try to protect other Hoosiers.”
Local Health Department officials are in contact with the Indiana Department of Health concerning the rise in COVID-19 cases to ensure necessary steps are being taken to slow the spread of COVID-19.
