Brown County staying on ‘red’ COVID restrictions
Brown County has met the minimum thresholds to move to “orange” status on the Indiana State Department of Health’s color-coded virus spread map, but the Brown County Health Department is keeping the county at “red” — the tightest restrictions — because of concerns about lags in data painting an inaccurate picture.
“I believe their (the state’s) data is behind what we see on the ground in Brown County,” said Brown County Health Officer Dr. Norman Oestrike on Dec. 9. “It is my medical opinion that Brown County is currently having the greatest surge in COVID cases we have ever had. We clearly are in the red zone and need to follow all guidelines of the red zone until we see indications of significant improvement.”
According to the ISDH, from Tuesday, Dec. 8 to Monday, Dec. 14, Brown County gained 51 new cases of COVID-19, taking our total cases to 534 since the pandemic began in March.
Four of the county’s eight total deaths have occurred since Thanksgiving.
Since Sept. 26, when Indiana moved into Stage 5 of its reopening plan and businesses like bars and gyms were allowed to operate without capacity limits, Brown County has picked up 435 new cases — a 418 percent increase from where we were back then. Gov Eric Holcomb later revised the reopening plan. At last week’s press conference, he described Indiana’s virus spread map — all orange and red statuses now in every county — as being “on fire.”
Regardless of what a county’s color code is, throughout public places in Indiana it’s still required that you wear a face covering and keep a distance of at least six feet between yourself and someone not in your household.
Brown County Intermediate School moved to all-remote learning Dec. 9 because of the percentage of students and staff out due to exposure to COVID cases. The junior high and high school are on hybrid schedule, allowing half the students into the buildings every other day with the other half learning remotely. All elementaries remain on in-person school.
As of Dec. 14, these were the active case counts and school absence percentages related to COVID:
Helmsburg: 0 cases; 5 percent absent
Sprunica: 1 case; 17.5 percent absent
Van Buren: 0 cases; 5 percent absent
BCIS: 0 cases; 22.6 percent absent
BCJHS: 0 cases; 16.9 percent absent
BCHS: 0 cases; 8.2 percent absent
In health region District 8, which includes Brown County, 45 percent of intensive care hospital beds were in use for COVID or non-COVID reasons as of Dec. 11. That includes hospitals in Bloomington, Columbus, Bedford, Seymour, Paoli and Salem.
In the region that includes Indianapolis and surrounding counties, 80 percent of ICU beds were in use.
“We all want life to get back to normal,” said State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box, “but to go there, we must continue to use the tools that we have at our disposal. That means wearing a mask, staying home and socially distancing. And, most importantly, making those hard choices around holiday gatherings.”
Library going back to curbside service this month
Brown County Public Library, 205 Locust Lane, will be doing curbside service only beginning Monday, Dec. 21.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. The library will be closed on Sundays. Visitors will be able to pick up reserved materials, remotely print and have staff make copies or send faxes during business hours. Computer sessions will be available.
Call the library at 812-988-2850 for more information.
Free meals being offered during winter break
Free meals will continue to be offered to Brown County Schools students for pick-up throughout the end of the calendar year, including during winter break.
Meals can be picked up at the following locations and times for all students and remote learners. A limited number of meal packets will be available at each location on a first-come, first-served basis, said Don Hymer, director of dining for Brown County schools.
With questions, call BCS food service at 812-988-5423, ext. 1136
Monday, Dec. 21: Five-day meal kits. Pick up between 4:30 and 6 p.m. at Brown County High School, Sprunica Elementary School, Van Buren Elementary School or Helmsburg Elementary School.
Tuesday Dec. 22: Five-day meal kits. Pick up between 10 a.m. and noon or while supplies last at BCHS, SES, VES and HES.
Monday, Dec. 28, Five-day meal kits. Pick up between 4:30 and 6 p.m. at BCHS, SES, VES and HES.
Tuesday, Dec. 29: Five-day meal kits. Pick up between 10 a.m. and noon or while supplies last at BCHS, SES, VES and HES.
County buildings close due to effect of virus on staff
The Brown County Courthouse and County Office Building had limited staffing Dec. 10 and 11 in order to conduct deep cleaning of the facilities.
County officials were aware of multiple positive cases and exposures and were awaiting pending test results, said county commissioner Diana Biddle.
The Brown County Purdue Extension office, Brown County Recycle Center and Brown County Parks and Recreation were also closed, which includes the playground at Deer Run Park.
Intermediate school goes red; two others on yellow
Brown County Intermediate School students are on 100-percent remote instruction until Dec. 16, as the school had has enough students or staff absent to trigger that level of the COVID plan.
The school went all-remote “red” on Dec. 9 because nearly 25 percent of its students or staff were absent due to active exposure reasons. The threshold to move directly to red from whatever color a school was on is 20 percent per building.
BCIS was to return to school on the “green,” in-person level of the plan on Thursday, Dec. 17. “We recognize this results in only one day of in-person instruction before winter break,” Superintendent Laura Hammack told parents. “However, any day that we are able to have students attend school in person is a day that we need to be in session.”
All BCIS athletic activities also were canceled through Dec. 16.
Grade school students, in pre-K through fourth grades at Helmsburg, Sprunica and Van Buren elementaries, are still on the “green,” in-person level of the plan until Dec. 17 which is the last day of class before winter break. As of Dec. 10, all three of those schools had less than 8 percent of their students or staff out for COVID-related reasons. The threshold to move to a hybrid, in-person-and-remote schedule is 11 percent per building.
Students at Brown County Junior High School and Brown County High School have been on the “yellow” hybrid plan, going to school in person every other day and remotely on the other days, since Nov. 30.
Student engagement low on remote learning days
Getting students to engage with their classes online has been a challenge for Brown County Schools, Superintendent Laura Hammack told the school board Dec. 3.
“We are not seeing great participation, so that is something that we will need to be continuing to be innovatively thinking about ways to engage students when they are in that remote format,” she said.
According to data available before Thanksgiving break, about 50 percent of student students attended class on remote learning days.
Before Thanksgiving break, both Brown County High School and Brown County Junior High School were placed on the red level of the district’s COVID-19 plan, meaning all students were attending school remotely.
On Dec. 9, Brown County Intermediate School was moved to the red level after the percentage of staff or students absent related to active exposure moved past the 20-percent threshold.
The junior high and high school are now on the “yellow” level of the plan, going to school in person every other day and going to school remotely on the other days.
Grade school students, in pre-K through fourth grades at Helmsburg, Sprunica and Van Buren elementaries, are still scheduled to report to school on the “green” level.
“Data that was offered before we went to Thanksgiving break was about 50-percent student attendance on those remote days. We’re hoping on the yellow plan, we’re going to inspire more engagement on those remote days because the teachers then will follow up the very next day on what should have happened remotely the day prior,” Hammack said.
The hybrid plan at the junior high and high school has provided for smaller in-person class sizes and more space for students to move about their day.
“Students are able to socially distance way more than we’ve ever been able to do. I think most teachers at the secondary level are able to socially distance, but it’s student-to-student social distance that has just been such a challenge,” Hammack said.
“The benefit of that hybrid is manifesting. You see it as well on the buses and in the cafeteria. There is just a smaller number of students and you just really feel that space.”
Hammack also acknowledged the transportation department’s response to the changing attendance plans.
“They literally, every day, have to check their route. They have to check our quarantine list and now they have to check again for who is in blue and who is on a gold day. They are amazing. You hear their radio chatter every morning,” Hammack said.
“I just couldn’t be more pleased with what’s happening with our bus drivers right now. It has to be hard, but I haven’t heard one complaint as if they are digging in to really help us out. It’s been incredible. Truly heroic from every layer of this organization.”
In her COVID-19 report to the board, Hammack said the district was concerned about test results that were taking longer to get back.
“When we started this school year and we had such a good go of it for the first couple of months, we were seeing test results coming back within 48 hours, sometimes even 24 hours. That helped massively with knowing,” Hammack said.
“What has been happening as of late is that sometimes a student had already expressed half of their quarantine by the time that the test results had come back.”
The school district now has a daily metric report on its website displaying the number of active cases in each school building along with the percentages of those in each building presenting with symptoms or absent due being exposed to COVID-19.
“It is not easy to be on hybrid. In fact, I think it is fair to say it is hard on everyone,” Hammack told the board.
“It is hard for the teachers because they are planning for in-person instruction while simultaneously needing to prepare for students who are participating remotely. It is incredible what they have been able to put together in just a few days. We’ve just been amazed, really, by the level of quality of work that is being offered.”
Elective procedures postponed; gathering limits in place
Governor Eric Holcomb today signed a new executive order last week to curtail elective in-patient surgeries and implement targeted restrictions for counties that have high levels of COVID-19.
Local governments may impose more restrictive guidelines.
In an effort to preserve hospital intensive care unit capacity and try to lessen the strain on overwhelmed health care workers, hospitals are required to postpone or reschedule non-emergent procedures done in in-patient hospital settings beginning Wednesday, Dec. 16 through Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021. Postponed procedures include those that are unlikely to cause risk to a patient’s prognosis.
Hoosiers who need medical care should continue to see their doctor or go to a hospital, the governor’s office said.
The size of social gatherings is limited by the color metric of the county. Beginning Dec. 13, local health departments were no longer allowed to grant permission for larger events.
The Indiana Department of Health has established a color-coded county map that measures weekly cases per 100,000 residents and the seven-day positivity rate for all tests completed. Each county is assigned a color based on the average scores for the two metrics. Restrictions are assigned based on the map, which is updated each Wednesday at coronavirus.in.gov.
Among the new requirements are:
Red: The county has very high positivity and community spread. When a county is in the red metric, these requirements remain in effect until the metric has returned to orange or lower for two weeks.
- Social gatherings of any kind, indoor or outdoor, are limited to 25 people.
- K-12 extracurricular and co-curricular activities may continue with attendance limited to participants, support personnel, and parents/guardians plus their minor children.
Orange: The county’s community spread is approaching high levels. These requirements are in effect when a county reaches the orange metric and remain until a county moves to yellow or blue for two straight weeks.
- Social gatherings of any kind, indoor or outdoor, are limited to 50 people.
- K-12 extracurricular and co-curricular activities may continue with attendance limited to 25 percent capacity in consultation with local health departments.
Yellow: The county has moderate community spread.
- Social gatherings of any kind, indoor or outdoor, are limited to 100 people.
- K-12 extracurricular and co-curricular activities may continue with attendance limited to 25 percent capacity in consultation with local health departments.
Blue: The county has low community spread.
- Social gatherings of any kind, indoor or outdoor, are limited to 250 people.
- K-12 extracurricular and co-curricular activities may continue with attendance limited to 25 percent capacity in consultation with local health departments.
Regardless of a county’s color code, community recreational sports leagues and tournaments may continue but are limited to participants, support personnel, and parents/guardians and their minor children.
College and professional sports may continue with participants, support personnel and family members. A local health department may approve a plan for up to 25 percent capacity.
Face coverings are required for all Hoosiers. Businesses of all types are required to place clearly visible signs at their public and employee entrances notifying all that face coverings are required.
All customers in restaurants and bars are required to be seated. Tables, counters, or other seating arrangements must be spaced six feet apart.
The executive order is effective through Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021.
