Governor Holcomb Provides COVID-19 Update; Stats Trending In Right Direction

Hoosiers are urged to continue to mask up and schedule an appointment for the vaccine when eligible.

(Indianapolis, Ind.) – As the pandemic continues, many Hoosiers are finding it harder to make payments to their utility bills.

According to Governor Eric Holcomb, Indiana has received approximately $448 million in emergency rental assistance and utility/home energy assistance funding through a new COVID-19 Relief Bill.

Under the new program, any renter household in Indiana that needs assistance, and not currently receiving it from another source, should consider applying once the program becomes available.

The program is designed to assist households that are unable to pay rent and utilities due to the pandemic. Eligible households can receive up to 12 months of rental assistance and utility/home energy assistance. This includes a combination of past due and future months of rental assistance.

In order to be eligible, households should have at least one or more people who qualify for unemployment or have experienced a reduction in household income, incurred significant costs, or experiences a financial hardship due to COVID-19.

Applications are being accepted once the state received guidance from the US Department of Treasury.

Updates will be provided at www.indianahousingnow.org.

Governor Holcomb also spoke on COVID-19 vaccinations, updated statistics, and new shipments of PPE.

According to the Governor, the state recently sent out approximately 140,000 masks to 160 schools all across Indiana. The state continues to be proactive in getting PPE to not only schools but to essential businesses as well.

With the recent weather that has been impacting the state, many Hoosiers have had to reschedule their COVID-19 vaccination appointments. The weather has also impacted the shipments of COVID-19 vaccines.

Currently, Hoosiers 65 and up, healthcare workers and first responders remain eligible to receive the vaccine. The state will open eligibility to those 60 and up once more doses become available.

To date, approximately 1.6 million Hoosiers have scheduled appointments to receive the vaccine since it became available in December.

According to Dr. Kristina Box, the state’s positivity rate stands at 4.7 percent, down from 6.2 percent last week, and 7.7. percent two weeks ago. Hospitalizations are also down to 955 as of Wednesday, down from 1,300 the week before.

The state’s COVID-19 map shows that there are not any counties in the red status. Locally, Jefferson, Scott, Ripley, Switzerland, and Jennings Counties are all in the yellow status.