Governor Holcomb Provides COVID-19 Update; Stats Trending In Right Direction

Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 10:21 AM

Hoosiers are urged to continue to mask up and schedule an appointment for the vaccine when eligible.

(Indianapolis, Ind.) - COVID-19 statistics are trending in the right direction in the Hoosier state.

Governor Eric Holcomb gave his weekly COVID-19 update on Wednesday afternoon.

Topics included COVID-19 vaccinations, updated stats, new shipments of PPE, and emergency rental assistance.

According to Holcomb, the state recently sent out approximately 140,000 masks to 160 schools across Indiana. The state continues to be proactive in getting needed PPE to not only schools, but essential businesses as well.

Recent winter weather has caused Hoosiers to reschedule COVID-19 vaccination appointments. Weather has also caused delays in getting vaccine shipments.

Around 40,000 appointments have been rescheduled over a 48-hour period, according to the governor.

He added that the state has shown great ability to be able to pivot and make sure people are still getting their shots.

Hoosiers 65 and up, healthcare workers and first responders remain eligible to receive the vaccine. The state will open eligibility to those 60 and up once more doses become available.

To date, approximately 1.6 million Hoosiers have scheduled appointments to receive the vaccine since it become available in December.

Indiana continues to see better COVID-19 statistics. Dr. Kristina Box says the state’s positivity rate stands at 4.7 percent, down from 6.2 percent last week, and 7.7 percent two weeks ago.

Hospitalizations are down to 955 as of Wednesday, down from 1,300 a week ago.

The state’s COVID-19 map shows no counties in red status. Locally, Dearborn County remains in orange status with a 7-day all tests positivity rate of 9.33 percent. Franklin, Ohio, Ripley and Switzerland counties are listed as yellow.

Indiana has received approximately $448 million in emergency rental assistance and utility/home energy assistance funding through the new COVID-19 Relief Bill.

Under the new program, any renter household in Indiana that needs assistance, and not currently receiving it from another source, should considering applying once the program is available.

The program is designed to assist households that are unable to pay rent and utilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eligible households can receive up to 12 months of rental assistance and utility/home energy assistance. That includes a combination of past due rent and future months rental assistance.

To be eligible, a household must have at least one of more people who qualify for unemployment or has experienced a reduction in household income, incurred significant costs, or experienced a financial hardship due to COVID-19.

Applications will be accepted once the state has received guidance from the US Department of Treasury.

Updates will be provided at www.indianahousingnow.org.