This afternoon, Governor Holcomb made a decision that balances the very real need to plan for re-opening the economy with the equally real risks associated with the continued presence of COVID-19 in our society by extending the “stay at home” order until May 1st. Sadly, until a vaccine is developed, there is no way to control the disease other than minimizing contact with each other and practicing good hygiene. As the number of new cases declines to a level that can be managed with robust testing, contact tracing, and individual quarantine efforts, we will be able gradually re-open our society. I anticipate this is a process that will begin in early May and will continue for several months. The end result will not be our old way of life, but will be a “new normal” where we make personal decisions to limit risk of exposure by limiting contact with each other while we await the distribution of a vaccine next year.
While we are not out of the woods yet, we do seem to be entering a quieter period in Central Indiana (and especially in Hancock County). In addition, we have done a fantastic job in responding to the disease and re-organizing our operations to handle potential spikes in the number of patients suffering from it. With this in mind, we are going to change our tempo in a couple of ways. First, we will staff our Incident Command Center virtually next week with the ability to re-open it physically when needed. Second, we are going to change our coronavirus update emails to just twice weekly (Tuesday and Friday evenings). Third, we will begin to implement plans to provide more care for our non-COVID-19 patients. Please know, the disease remains a very real threat and we will not relax our guard, but we will begin to make ourselves more accessible to people that need us for other reasons.
Please take some time this weekend to enjoy the fresh, Spring air!
All the Best,
Steve
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