Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb along with State Health Officials addressed the latest rise of COVID-19 in the state Wednesday afternoon. The briefing comes after Lake County set a new record in cases.
numbers since the beginning of the pandemic.
“I like to add a plea to not go to the ER just for testing. As I mentioned our ER’s are stretched to the limit with very sick patients and the additional volume of people seeking testing adds an additional strain.” “People infected with Omicron have a lot more virus in their throats waiting to be expelled when they exhale, cough, or sneeze. The CDC expects that everyone with Omicron infection can spread the virus to others even if they do not have symptoms, or are vaccinated,” Dr. Box said.
Dr. Weaver mentions the newly approved COVID-19 pills will become available at CVS and Walgreens pharmacies and to check the state’s website for locations. She says that in order to receive the treatment patients must have a prescription from their clinician and test positive for COVID, but there is no guarantee it will be available to those who meet the criteria due to limited supply.
Indiana State Attorney General Todd Rokita questioned the COVID numbers in a TV interview last week. Gov. Holcomb said he hasn’t heard from Rokita and doesn’t plan to reach out to him. “I really do because the data and the science behind that is that 85-90% of people are no longer infective after day five. So consequently, if you look at this there’s another 10-15%, and we’re really picking those people up by mandating, asking, requesting strongly if you want to follow these guidances that you need to be masked for the next five days anytime you’re around other people.”