Indiana’s governor made his final campaign stop in Columbus Monday, agreeing to answer questions about the state’s growing COVID-19 numbers.
Holcomb stopped in at the Upland Columbus Pump House, accompanied by Rep. Greg Pence, R-Ind., and other Republicans.
When asked at what point he might consider enforcing penalties on Indiana’s mask mandate, Holcomb replied that the statewide mandate "couldn’t be a stronger statement" and that it allows local businesses and communities to enforce that rule.
"And what you’re seeing is more and more local communities are doing just that when those positivity rates creep up to an uncomfortable level locally," he said. "And we’re all in this together. That’s not just rhetorical; it will take all of us. It will take each individual Hoosier to practice all the best practices and then local communities to make sure that they’re being followed.”
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The Indiana Department of Health reported Monday that 3,080 additional Hoosiers were diagnosed with COVID-19 as of Nov. 1. For the past four out of five days, the number of new positive cases has surpassed 3,000, only dipping to 2,781 on Saturday.
The total number of Indiana residents known to have had the coronavirus is now 185,185. A total of 4,150 residents have died from the virus, and another 240 probable deaths have been reported. There are 1,386 confirmed COVID-19 patients across the state.
About the hospitalizations, Holcomb said it is an indicator state officials are looking at each day.
"We track the resources that are needed, whether that’s negative airflow rooms or gowns or gloves or clinicians or assistants or nurses or doctors. And that hospitalization rate is one of many indicators that we look at, and we want to make sure that we always have the capacity to care for those who are in need," he said.
When asked if the rising number of cases might impact the economy, he said that the state tracks its "capacity to care" and works with local businesses and communities. He also said that Hoosier businesses have "figured out ways to do business safely."
"We have to be ever-vigilant," he added. "We can’t let our guard down, because we know how infectious COVID-19 is, but this little cloth mask allows our kids to be in school, allows our businesses to be open and commerce to continue.”
Holcomb said that Indiana had to "hunker down" in April and was able to build up a "stockpile" of personal protective equipment.
“We had to build up that inventory and make sure … that we had the capacity to care," he said. "And we did that. And so, we’ll continue to approach this as we move closer to the days where therapeutics and vaccines are available too. So we have that protocol and that plan already in place, and we’ll be ready to go as soon as those distributions are made to us.”
