INDIANAPOLIS — Nearly all Indiana counties were listed Wednesday by the state health department in the higher risk categories for COVID-19 spread as severe illnesses are straining hospitals at levels months earlier than last winter’s surge.

Gov. Eric Holcomb said a new statewide executive order being issued Wednesday won’t reinstate any mask mandates or business restrictions even as more schools face COVID-19 outbreaks and Indiana’s vaccination rate remains stubbornly low.

The coronavirus risk ratings updated weekly by the state health department put 13 of Indiana’s 92 counties in highest-risk red category, with 75 counties with the next-highest orange rating. Only four counties were in the lower-level yellow category. Just one county was listed as red a month ago with 62 in the lowest-level yellow and blue ratings as the highly contagious delta variant was hitting the state.

The Crown Point school district in northwestern Indiana joined many others across the state Wednesday in requiring students and teachers to wear face masks after more than 50 confirmed COVID-19 infections and nearly 900 students out of school on quarantines during the first two weeks of classes.

Holcomb said the COVID-19 spread in Indiana was regrettable but avoidable.