Statewide — During Governor Holcomb’s weekly press briefing on Wednesday, it was announced that he is ordering all hospitals to postpone or reschedule all non-emergent procedures that would require hospitalizations to prepare for the continuing influx of Covid-19 patients in hospitals across the state. This postponement period will run between December 16 through January 3.
Also in the latest order, starting this weekend, there will be no exceptions granted by local health departments for social gatherings. All social gathering sizes will be determined by the color status on the Indiana State Department of Health map. Dr. Kristina Box reported that Indiana is entirely red for the 4th consecutive week for cases per 100,000 residents. Seven of those counties, which includes Ripley County, have over 1000 cases per 100,000 residents. Indiana is also ranked 2nd in the nation for most cases in a 7-day period, having been ranked 1st the week prior.