(INDIANAPOLIS) – Indiana is extending its statewide lockdown for two more weeks.
The order to stay home except for essential travel now runs through April 20, even though a public health emergency has been extended a full month. Governor Holcomb says extending the “hunker down” order in two-week increments makes it easier to make tweaks where they’re needed. He says he’ll announce some of those tweaks on Monday, when he formally issues the new executive order.
Some Indiana counties have already gone further with their own stay-home orders. Indianapolis has
threatened to shut down businesses which don’t take concrete steps to enforce social distancing, such as laying down tape to outline the recommended six-foot separation. Decatur County, with one of the highest infection rates in the nation, has gone beyond Holcomb’s carryout-only order to shut down restaurants entirely. And Howard County is asking grocery shoppers to follow a “one adult, one cart” rule at the store.
Holcomb says he doesn’t have any objections to local actions taken so far, but says he won’t necessarily implement them statewide.
The Indiana State Department of Health announced Indiana recorded its 100th death on Thursday, less than a month after the first. Holcomb calls the grim milestone a signal of the start of the long-expected surge in coronavirus cases, but only the start. He says it’s more important than ever to maintain social distancing.
