MONROE CO. – Monroe County will maintain its COVID-19 social gathering restrictions and mask mandatese.
Governor Eric Holcomb announced he will end the statewide mask mandate on April 6, however, Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton announced Friday during his weekly COVID-19 press conference city restrictions need to stay in place.
“It is not time to relax our guard,” Mayor Hamilton said. “It is not time to declare victory. It is time to stay the course and monitor very carefully what is happening, and I really appreciate our health experts and leaders doing just that.”
To watch the press conference click this link: https://fb.watch/4vIAPd82vU/
Monroe County Health Department Administrator Penny Caudill agreed.
Caudill said Monroe County has seen a slight increase in cases in March.
Caudill said Monroe County cases per 100,000 people, reaching 94 per 100,000 people.
“I want to point that out because our current cases per 100,000 went up to 94 remember when that reaches 100 that would put the county in orange and that would put us back in a yellow advisor. It is quite likely if we will be yellow next week and when I did the math yesterday we would already be at 107 cases per 100,000. Today we saw another slight increase. Today we added another 36 new cases. But our numbers are not going in the direction we want them to they are going in the wrong direction so we will not be loosening our restrictions. They will stay in place for the time being and keep our eye on that finish line.”
Testing is still very important she added.
“It is how we now what is circulating in our county,” she added.
- Positive cases on March 26, 2021 – 10,795 up by 36
- Deaths on March 26, 2021 – 166 up by 1
- 7-day all-test positivity rate as of March 26, 2021 – 0.8% up by 0.1
- Hospitalizations as of March 26, 2021 – 22 up by 1
Brian Shockney, who is responsible for operational leadership of IU Health Bloomington Hospital issued caution – 637 patients were hospitalized for COVID-19 Friday. He stressed masks continue to be an important tool in fighting COVID-19. southcentral region.
