Indiana’s Holcomb won’t to say when mask mandate will end

(The Center Square) – Indiana Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb brushed off a question from a journalist about the state mask mandate Wednesday, saying he’s not looking at what other states are doing – only at Indiana – and declined to say when he will end it.

“What do you say to those Hoosiers who see Texas, Mississippi, Arizona kind of opening back up, getting rid of their mask mandates” asked Abdul Hakim Shabazz of Indy Politics. “Why not here? Why aren’t we doing the same thing here, even though our numbers are moving in a more positive direction?”

“We’ll get there,” said the Holcomb, at the beginning of a long answer.

“We look at our numbers. We look at all those things I said at the very outset – hospitalization rates, death rates, our PPE, our staffing levels, our hospitalization rates. We look at how many people have been vaccinated, how many people are going to get their second-dose vaccination, how many people inside those comorbidity groups, we’re just starting to get to them right now.”

Holcomb went on to say he’d have “more to say in the next week or two.”

“As I mentioned, the numbers, again, are very optimistic,” he continued. “I’m looking forward to the spring. But the states that you referenced, again, I’m laser focused on Indiana. And I want to make sure we continue – we, the people – continue to do things that are responsible in terms of the effects it has on our public health.”

Holcomb first announced the statewide mask mandate in late July 2020, and it has been in effect ever since, even as other states have announced an end to masks and all occupancy restrictions.

Another question was asked at the Wednesday press conference about churches in the state that are no longer requiring congregants to wear masks and are allowing people to sing hymns.

The question was answered by Kristina Box, the State Health Commissioner.

“The concern that I have about churches is that there may be some medically vulnerable people in the church that haven’t been immunized or vaccinated yet,” she said.

Box went on to say that with just 11% of people in the state having received the Covid-19 vaccine, she thinks it’s too early “to just take off our masks and thrown caution to the wind.”

She said she understands it is “more fun” for churchgoers to be able to praise God in song, but said: “I’d just like to see us hold out a little longer.”

But how much longer?

Republican members of the Indiana General Assembly are getting restless. Twenty-two of them have signed on to a concurrent resolution that would immediately end the governor’s public health emergency, first declared more than a year ago on March 6, 2020.

House Concurrent Resolution 18 is authored by Rep. J.D. Prescott, R-Union City, and now has 21 co-authors, who make up close to one-third of all Republicans in the Indiana House of Representatives.

While only a couple of legislators have been going mask-less in the Statehouse since the start of the session in early January, many more are starting to take off their masks.

“It’s just been gradual,” says Rep. Curt Nisly, R-Milford. “I was at a committee hearing today and I realized that about half the members didn’t even wear a mask in.”

Nisly introduced a resolution early in the session to end the governor’s emergency order, but it was referred to committee and not given a hearing.

But the chorus is now growing for Holcomb to end the mask mandate and lift restrictions on businesses.

Of the 265 comments on the governor’s Facebook page on a post Wednesday celebrating Indiana basketball, many tongue-lashed the governor for not lifting mandates in advance of the NCAA tournament, to be held in Indianapolis beginning March 18.

“Since it is OK to have basketball, it is time to ditch the masks. If we can have basketball, we can be able to move around with wearing diapers on our face constantly!” one woman commented.

Nisly says he thinks lawmakers are under increased pressure from constituents to put a stop to the governor’s mandates.

“We all know that we’re here to represent the people that elected us. And we all are hearing from our constituents that it is time for this to be over,” he said.

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