Each time Indiana was about to enter a new stage of the state’s reopening plan, Gov. Eric Holcomb praised Hoosiers for flattening the curve and started the new stage a few days earlier than originally scheduled.
That was until Wednesday when he put the brakes on for the first time, announcing that Indiana will move onto Stage 4.5, instead of Stage 5, the final stage of the plan in which no capacity is set on businesses and other entities.
Instead, capacity restrictions at restaurants, bars, movie theaters and others will remain the same. Social gatherings of up to 250 people may continue to take place. Outdoor activities such as fairs, festivals, state fair racing can now open with restrictions.
As some states see surges of coronavirus cases, Holcomb wants to ensure that Indiana doesn’t. According to the Indiana State Department of Health, 46,387 have tested positive for coronavirus in Indiana out of 496,835 people tested as of Wednesday (around 9.34%).
“We don’t want to find ourselves in that situation,” he said during Wednesday’s briefing. “This virus is on the prowl.”
In Southern Indiana, Floyd County Health Officer Dr. Thomas Harris said among the tests that the health department has been conducting, he has seen a slight uptick in the number of cases since Stage 4 began.
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“We have been averaging anywhere from 1.5 to 1.8 cases per day for the last four weeks. Just this week, we jumped up to 2.2. If you think about it, that’s not a huge increase in cases,” he said. “But it is enough of a bump that we know it’s still out there in the community and it has increased because more people are out and about.”
Though it’s not as serious as places like Florida and Arizona, Harris thought it was “a very cautious and prudent move” to go to Stage 4.5, and said he would have been “uneasy” if Indiana entered Stage 5 on Saturday.
Floyd County has had 370 positive cases of COVID-19 out of 5,025 people tested and 44 deaths as of Wednesday. Since Stage 4 began, 37 positive cases were confirmed out of the 1,707 people tested, according to the ISDH.
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In Clark County, 627 residents have tested positive out of 7,112 people. During Stage 4, 60 of the 2,247 tested have beenpositive.
Clark County Health Officer Dr. Eric Yazel said he wondered if Indiana would ever pause or slow the reopening stages if data reveal that it should. With Holcomb’s announcement, Yazel has his answer.
“As a state, if the numbers tell us to slow down, will we have the courage to do so?” he said. “I have to say I’m impressed when we did see some concerning numbers. And probably even more importantly, with some of the states across the country starting to show some spikes, that we’ve taken a responsible decision in deciding to hold in place. I think it’s a good move.”
Michael Brown, co-owner of Harbor and Hops in Jeffersonville, has been looking forward to Saturday when his restaurant could finally operate in 100% capacity for the first time since March. But when he saw that restrictions will continue, he was disappointed, though he understood the decision.
“As much as I want to be operating at 100% right now, if that in turn re-stimulates the spread of two months from now and we end up having to shut down again because we opened too early, it’s not a long-term win,” he said.
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As a result, Brown had to take some of his staff off this weekend’s schedule. He also noted that on weekends, there’s about a 30% decrease in sales from running at 75% capacity instead of 100%.
“When you’re running at 75% capacity and the bulk of the crowd comes from 6 to 9, you can’t service them like you used to,” he said. “Quite honestly, we’ve been looking forward to this for a while, and it’s not going to happen. It’s disappointing but we’ll adjust and move on.”
Parnelli’s Chicago Eatery in Jeffersonville has been vigilant during the pandemic as they’re only allowing seating outside and doing takeouts. The owner, manager and catering director were health care workers and understand the safety of the employees and customers is their priority.
Manager Chanda Wolfe said more and more customers are coming to the restaurant these days, which opened this January, and asking when they will resume dine-in option. She said she’s glad to see them, especially regulars, return to their restaurant, but this pandemic has forced them to adjust to the new environment.
“This has all been new. It threw us a curveball since we only opened our doors in January,” Wolfe said. “To get things back to normal has been nice and to see people enjoy our food has been nice and go back to a little bit of normalcy.”
B&B, a bar in New Albany, has been closed since March 15 and is scheduled to finally open its doors July 10. Owner Brenda Gresham believes some of her regular customers are going to other bars, but it hasn’t been “worth it” to reopen early.
“I was going to open this weekend, but I’m putting it out for another weekend just to see if anything comes up,” she said. “I’m scared of it to be honest.”
David J. Kim: DKim@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @_DavidJKim. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: https://ift.tt/2Z9C9oV.
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