INDIANAPOLIS — Face coverings will be required statewide under certain circumstances starting next week, Gov. Eric Holcomb announced Wednesday.
Beginning Monday, July 27, face coverings will be required for everyone age 8 and older in indoor public spaces, commercial entities, transportation services and outside in public when it’s not possible to socially distance from people not in the same household.
Exceptions will be made for medical purposes, strenuous physical activity, eating and drinking.
Mask use in schools will be required for students in grades 3 and up, for faculty and staff, volunteers and anyone else in schools. Masks will also be required for co-curricular activities and extracurricular activities, with exceptions for strenuous physical activity.
Holcomb also said masks will be strongly recommended for those ages 2 to 7.
Face coverings may be factory-made, sewn by hand or improvised from household items like scarfs, bandannas and T-shirts, according to a news release issued after Holcomb’s announcement, which added that people’s mouths and noses should be covered.
The governor said he plans to sign an executive order for the mandate today (Thursday, July 23).
Holcomb’s order acknowledges one crucial fact about the pandemic: People who have COVID-19 may not have any of its symptoms, like a cough or fever. If untested, they wouldn’t even know they have the disease. They can still spread the virus through respiratory droplets to others for whom the disease can be devastating, however.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says a cloth face covering may not protect the wearer, but it may keep them from spreading COVID-19 to others. The state of Indiana has highly recommended face coverings throughout its reopening plan.
Holcomb said the order is needed due to a rise in COVID-19 cases across Indiana, novel coronavirus hospitalizations statewide and rising cases in surrounding states.
According to the Indiana State Department of Health, daily cases peaked in April before trending downward, but have been back on the rise. The state’s COVID-19 hospital census has increased from about 600 near the end of June to about 800 currently.
“Face coverings can and will help us blunt this increase,” Holcomb said during a media briefing Wednesday. “It has in other places around the country and indeed around the world.”
The measure is especially important as children prepare to go back to school, he added.
“The state will approach enforcement of the face covering requirement with an emphasis on education,” according to the news release. “The executive order states a penalty can be levied under the authority of state law. Local governments may impose more restrictive guidelines.”
Dr. Lindsay Weaver, chief medical officer for the Indiana State Department of Health, said at the briefing that masks can reduce the distance a wearer’s respiratory droplets can spread.
“Some studies have suggested that they can reduce the risk of transmission by up to 80%,” she continued, adding close to 40% of those in Indiana to test positive for COVID-19 didn’t have symptoms.
Weaver also said face coverings do not result in carbon dioxide elevations or decreased oxygen intake.
Citing the American Academy of Pediatrics, Indiana Family and Social Services Administration Secretary Dr. Jennifer Sullivan said at the briefing that it’s safe for children as young as 2 to wear face coverings, and that she highly recommends it in public spaces along with child care and school settings when feasible.
Hancock County Commissioners John Jessup and Marc Huber said they were opposed to the mask order. The commissioners, they said, would be reaching out to Holcomb and to state representatives to express their concerns.
“I think it’s an overreach of executive power,” Jessup said.
Huber agreed, saying that while he is in favor of people wearing face masks if it makes them more comfortable, he finds the governor’s decision “repulsive.”
“I really feel like we’re getting to the point where they’re infringing on our rights as American citizens,” Huber said. He said he has contacted the county’s attorney to talk about what options county government has.
Jessup said decisions about issues like masks should be made on the county level because counties are experiencing very different rates of infection. Citing the length of time since Hancock County’s last COVID-19 death and the difficulty of enforcing a mask order, he said the order does not make sense for Hancock County.
Jessup also questioned the efficacy of wearing a mask, saying contradictory information has been offered about how useful they are. While it’s true that there is some debate over how much wearing a mask reduces transmission risk, health experts agree that a cloth or disposable face covering does reduce the spread of the virus. There are no physical health conditions that are known to be exacerbated by using a mask.
“There’s just no consistency, and I personally can’t support it. I won’t be wearing a mask,” Jessup said.
Huber also said he does not plan to wear a mask, and that he does not see consistency in the state’s coronavirus response requiring masks but allowing activities like high school sports.
“How can they allow that but we can’t go to a restaurant without a mask?” Huber asked. “It makes zero sense. You can’t have it both ways.”
Steve Long, CEO of Hancock Health, welcomed the move as a strategy to simply help Hoosiers look out for each other. As a confusing patchwork of rules has developed over the past few weeks — some stores, for example, are now requiring face coverings while others are not — Long said the governor’s order will help introduce consistency and set expectations for everyone.
Long, a racing fan whose checkered flag mask has been a staple of video talks he has recorded for the public since the pandemic began, said people might consider taking the same attitude as health-care workers, who don masks for hours a day to keep themselves — and their patients — at a lower risk for infection. Many health-care workers, he noted, express their personalities through their unique masks, which are just another accessory.
“People will get used to it,” Long said.
Jessica Karins and David Hill of the Daily Reporter staff contributed to this story.
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COVID-19 Data
Hancock County
- 528 cases
- 36 deaths
- 8,142 tests
- 9 new cases on July 21
- 0 new deaths
- 148 new tests between July 1 and 21
Indiana
- 58,673 cases
- 2,666 deaths
- 654,413 tests
- 763 new cases on July 21
- 14 new deaths between June 19 and July 21
- 9,649 new tests between May 11 and July 21
- 49.9% ICU beds in use – non-COVID
- 13.5% ICU beds in use – COVID
- 36.6% ICU beds available
- 15% ventilators in use – non-COVID
- 2.9% ventilators in use – COVID
- 82.1% ventilators available
- COVID-19 hospital census: 869
Source: Indiana State Department of Health as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, July 21
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