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Indiana coronavirus updates for Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Coronavirus updates from Wednesday, Oct. 21.

INDIANAPOLIS — Wednesday's latest updates on the coronavirus pandemic.

Bedford North Lawrence ends football season

Bedford North Lawrence has canceled the rest of its football season, due to COVID-19.

The school announced the decision Wednesday.

"Due to positive cases of COVID 19, Bedford North Lawrence High School Administrators, in order to provide the safest environment possible, feel that our best option is to cancel the remainder of the high school football season," the Bedford North Lawrence athletic department tweeted.

The Stars were scheduled to play New Albany in the first round of the sectional tournament on Friday, Oct. 30. They finished the season with a 2-7 record.

Peru High School virtual schooling

Peru High School students will be moving to virtual learning for two weeks beginning Thursday after an increase in COVID cases. Students will not return to school until Nov. 5.

The district reports five students were positive for COVID-19 and around 100 more were under quarantine due to close contact. 

The closure means all sports, practices and fine arts activities will be suspended until the 14 days is over.

Food will be provided for pickup with lunch being from 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. and dinner from 4 - 5 p.m.

State leaders update on response

State leaders gave an update on the response to the coronavirus pandemic. Gov. Eric Holcomb said he remains confident that the state should stay in Stage 5 of the reopening. Gov. Holcomb said he is planning to keep the mask mandate going for the "foreseeable future." 

Long-term care facilities

With deaths and cases increasing, the state is working on increased steps to support long-term care facilities. That will include testing, screening employees, managing data and hiring additional clinical staff to help train long-term care staff. Indiana will also be supplying more PPE gear for staff working with possibly infected residents at the facilities. That PPE will include 400,000 face shields and 680,000 gowns.

Since the start of the pandemic, 2,205 long-term care residents have died from COVID-19 in Indiana. That makes up 58 percent of the state's deaths from the virus.

The Indiana National Guard will be deployed to all long-term care facilities with positive cases beginning Nov. 1. Guard members will be assisting with testing, reporting results, screening employees and infection control practices.

The state will also be asking for volunteers to join Indiana's health care reserve workforce.

Additionally, residents will now be allowed to discharge immediately from a hospital to a patient's home for rehabilitation.

State map tracking cases

Only eight counties are in blue in the state's tracking of cases. Most of the counties are in yellow or orange with a handful being red. The Indiana State Department of Health said the map shows clearly cases are increasing across the state.

Credit: ISDH
The county metrics map is updated Wednesdays at 12:00 p.m. and reflects data through the previous Sunday.

Trick-or-treating

The governor said there will not be trick-or-treating at the governor's residence this year to be safe.

VP Pence rally

Gov. Holcomb said he plans to attend Vice President Mike Pence's rally in Fort Wayne Thursday. He said he believes it can be conducted safely. Gov. Holcomb said he will wear a mask and follow safety practices while attending.

ISDH daily update

The Indiana State Department of Health is reporting 1,766 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 15 more deaths, bringing the totals to 152,396 cases and 3,790 across the state.

Wednesday's newly reported cases date back to Aug. 23, while the deaths date back to Oct. 16.

The seven-day positivity rate is above the 5 percent goal, at 6.9 percent for all tests between Oct. 8 and Oct. 14 and 12.7 percent for unique individuals in the same time span.

The state has just over one-third of ICU beds available — 18.8 percent of the beds in use are by COVID-19 patients. On Tuesday, there were 1,484 patients being treated for COVID-19 in hospitals across the state. That's the most Indiana has seen since early May.

Zionsville not posting trick-or-treat hours

The Town of Zionsville has announced it will not post official trick-or-treating hours this year, encouraging residents to heed the CDC's advice and avoid traditional trick-or-treating this year.

Instead, Zionsville is asking residents to participate in lower-risk activities to celebrate, like virtual costume contests, movie nights with your family at home, or pumpkin carving and decorating. To see all the CDC's recommendations for low-risk activities, click here.

State shares detailed plan to distribute COVID-19 vaccine

13News has learned about Indiana's plan to hand out a COVID-19 vaccine, once one is approved.

The State Department of Health's plan will roll out in three phases.

The first people to receive the vaccine will be health care workers, followed by those most at risk. The workers included in the first phase include everyone employed in health care settings, from hospitals and long-term care facilities, to pharmacies, dialysis and emergency medical workers.

The determination of who is at-risk will be based on the latest evidence and research at the time and includes people age 65 and older and with other health problems that would put them at higher risk for COVID-19. 

The first phase will use hospitals that are prepared to administer to health care workers, then expand to use local health departments and commercial pharmacies.

Click here to read ISDH's COVID-19 vaccine allocation plan.

The second phase of vaccinations will include those who are at an elevated risk by their working or living circumstances. The goal of the second phase is to limit the spread of the virus.

People included in this phase are those in correctional facilities, group homes, shelters and essential workers who are in situations where social distancing is not possible and transmission risk is high. That group encompasses professions such as police officers and firefighters, teachers, and those who work in food service, retail, utilities, public transit, warehouses, indoor construction and public health.

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Once the first two phases are complete and a vaccine is widely available, health officials will begin to administer it to the general public.

The state may also call on the Indiana National Guard to assist with the plan.

Latest US, world numbers

There have been more than 8.27 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. as of 3:30 a.m. ET Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins University. There have been more than 221,000 deaths and 3.29 million people recovered.

Worldwide, there have been more than 40.79 million confirmed cases with more than 1.12 million deaths and 27.91 million recoveries.

RELATED: See where confirmed Indiana coronavirus cases are with this interactive map

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The real number of people infected by the virus around the world is believed to be much higher — perhaps 10 times higher in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — given testing limitations and the many mild cases that have gone unreported or unrecognized.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness like pneumonia, or death.

3 Indianapolis Public Library branches to reopen Wednesday after deep cleaning

The East Washington, Southport and Warren branches of the Indianapolis Public Library are expected to reopen Wednesday, Oct. 21 after closing Tuesday for deep cleaning due to COVID-19 concerns.

A staff member who had worked at the East Washington and Southport locations discovered they had been exposed to a family member who tested positive.

The library also said the Warren branch closed out of an abundance of caution Tuesday due to a separate incident where a staff member may have been exposed to the virus. 

Library patrons who visited these branches on or around Oct. 17-19 are encouraged to self-monitor for any symptoms.

Family, friends among least trusted for COVID-19 information, poll finds

Americans have lost trust across the board in the people and institutions informing them about the coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts.

The poll finds that the percentage of people saying they trust COVID-19 information from their state or local governments, the news media, social media and their friends and family has dropped significantly compared to similar questions in April. A large chunk of Americans say they find it hard to know if coronavirus information is accurate.

Just 16 percent say they trust coronavirus information from President Donald Trump a great deal or quite a bit, down from 23 percent in April. And 64 percent now say they trust Trump only a little or not at all on COVID-19. Only social media, at 72 percent saying they trust it only a little or not at all, is less trusted. 

The family doctor ranks highest when it comes to whom Americans trust for information about the coronavirus, with 53 percent saying they trust their health provider a great deal or quite a bit. After their doctors, 36 percent said they have high trust in federal health officials at agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, 26 percent in state or local governments, 18 percent in news media, 17 percent in family and friends, 16 percent in Trump, 12 percent in search engines and just 6 percent in social media. 

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But although their health provider is the source people trust the most, the poll finds its the source people check in with the least.

Experts in health, science and political communication said they see three reasons for the drop in trust: fear, politics and the public watching science messily forming in real time.

Thirty percent of Americans say it is difficult finding factual information about COVID-19. While 48 percent said they can tell the difference between coronavirus fact and opinion, fewer, 35 percent, say it’s easy to know if that information is true. About as many, 36 percent, find that difficult, with the remainder saying it’s neither easy nor difficult.

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