This photo provided by Pfizer shows kid-size doses of its COVID-19 vaccine in Puurs, Belgium. The U.S. moved a step closer to expanding vaccinations for millions more children as a panel of government advisers on Tuesday endorsed kid-size doses of Pfizer’s shots for 5- to 11-year-olds.
Associated Press
On Saturday, Governor Eric J. Holcomb signed two executive orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic, both of which will expire Dec. 1.
“Today, I’m extending the public health emergency for another 30 days to maintain critical assistance to our neediest Hoosiers as we come out of this pandemic – all directly tied to its continuation,” Holcomb said in a news release.
“While I am extending the state public health emergency for this next month to extend these critical capabilities directly tied to it, I have instructed my staff and the relevant agencies over the next few weeks to bring me a plan that contemplates options to wind down our executive orders and end the state public health emergency in the near future,” he said.
In response to the improved conditions relating to the spread of COVID-19 in Indiana, several provisions from the most recent executive orders have been removed.
Those include the direction for hospitals to consider reprioritizing or postponing non-emergent procedures, reporting requirements for hospitals about diversion and the direction to the Indiana Department of Insurance to request that insurers extend prior authorization for non-emergent surgeries or procedures that are postponed and prior authorizations for the transfer or discharge of patients
Due to the anticipated CDC approval of a vaccine for children ages 5 through 11, a provision has been added to allow Dr. Kristina Box, the state health commissioner, to issue a standing order to authorize the administration of COVID immunizations to children under 11. State law limits the use of the vaccine to those 11 and over.
The state announced Friday that 7,064 Jackson County residents have tested positive for COVID-19, an increase of 8 from Thursday’s total.
The positivity rate for Jackson County is at 7.1% a 0.7% decrease from Thursday’s percentage of 7.8%.
Jackson County is classified as a level 1.5 county, meaning a yellow warning level for COVID-19 spread.
Positivity rate also is determined by a seven-day moving average with a six-day lag. The reason for the lag is to give time to receive comprehensive results.
The current positivity rate for Jackson County would be for Oct. 16 to 22.
No new deaths attributed to COVID-19 were reported in Jackson County on Friday, meaning the death toll remains at 90.
There have been 82,881 tests administered to 24,512 individuals in Jackson County since March 18, an increase of 193 from Thursday’s total.
The latest results were as of 11:59 p.m. Thursday. The ISDH’s coronavirus dashboard is updated at 5 p.m. daily.
Also Friday, the state’s COVID-19 vaccination dashboard reported 19,841 or 42.7% of 46,428 Jackson County residents have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and 20,883 or 44.9% of county residents have been fully vaccinated.
Since Dec. 14, 3,334,218 Hoosiers have received their first dose, while 3,365,028 are fully vaccinated.
On Friday, 1,940 additional Hoosiers were diagnosed with COVID-19 through testing at the ISDH, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and private laboratories.
This brings to 1,018,638 the total number of Hoosiers known to have had the novel coronavirus following corrections to the previous day’s total.
Indiana’s total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 is 16,134 with 17 new deaths being reported Friday.
For the state, a total of 14,467,955 tests have been administered, an increase of 34,413 from Thursday’s total.