Before the statewide mask mandate was lifted on April 5, COVID-19 progress took a step back in counties near to Brown County.

Monroe, Johnson and Jackson counties were moved to “yellow” status on the state’s color-coded map of COVID-19 spread on March 31, while Brown County stayed at “blue,” indicating the lowest level of spread.

Starting April 6, face coverings and six-foot customer spacing are no longer state mandates, but local businesses or governments can choose to keep them. At press time, neither Nashville nor Brown County officials have chosen to do that, but some businesses may continue to require those measures.

Face coverings are still mandatory in all state buildings and facilities, as well as in all vaccination and COVID testing sites until further notice. K-12 schools will continue under current requirements through the remainder of the 2020-21 school year.

The Town of Nashville’s face covering ordinance remains in effect. It “recommends” face coverings “at all times while visiting public places in Nashville” and affirms support for the governor’s and CDC’s stances on public health and safety measures.

Between Tuesday, March 30 and Monday, April 5, Brown County picked up six new COVID-19 cases and no new deaths. That is on pace with the level of community spread we were seeing around mid-October before our weekly case counts began to spike well into the double digits.

As of April 2, about 29 percent of Brown County’s population had received at least one dose of the vaccine.

A total of 2,857,486 doses of vaccine had been administered in Indiana as of April 1, and more than 1.1 million Hoosiers had been fully vaccinated. Vaccine eligibility opened on March 31 to Hoosiers ages 16 and up.

Last week, the state also removed proof of residency as a requirement to receive the vaccine in Indiana.

In addition, Gov. Eric Holcomb announced he would no longer do COVID-19 press conferences each Wednesday.

As of March 31, the following percentages of Hoosiers had been vaccinated:

Age 80-plus: 74 percent

Age 70-79: 77 percent

Age 60-69: 66 percent

Age 50-59: 48 percent

Age 40-49: 35 percent

Age 30-39: 25 percent

Age 20-29: 10 percent

Age 16-19: 7 percent

Vaccines are available locally at the Brown County Music Center and CVS, as well as in several surrounding counties.

To register for a vaccine, visit ourshot.in.gov or call the 211 help line.